


The Healer and the Vagabond

by jwSD



Category: Dragon Quest Series, Dragon Quest XI
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Can ~you~ find all the inter-series/-SQEX game references?, Dragon Quest XI Act I Spoilers, Dragon Quest XI Act II Spoilers, Dragon Quest XI Act III Spoilers, F/M, Flashbacks to Erik's Past, Fluff and Angst, Hero | Luminary is Named Eleven | El (Dragon Quest XI), Hugs are nice y'know?, Hurt/Comfort, Introspection, L'Académie gets a ridiculous amount of screentime, One big tour of all the relevant Act I locales (kinda), Pining, Slow Romance, Vikings [will be] more like actual Vikings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-17
Updated: 2020-12-21
Packaged: 2020-12-22 06:09:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 25
Words: 150,234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21070979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jwSD/pseuds/jwSD
Summary: Over a fateful journey, a regretful thief and a modest spellcaster come together, learning the extent of the love that shapes and surrounds them.A retelling of DQXI's story based around deepening the motivations of Serenerik (aka Kamyusenya/カミュセニャ in Japan) and a few other characters, expanding on parts of the world, and elaborating on the main party's mundane interactions a little—plus integrating some of the more prominent mechanics into the narrative for the fun of it. Spoilers for the entirety of the base game and a tad bit of the new Definitive Edition stuff.





	1. A Cryptic Meeting

**Author's Note:**

> UPDATE 21 November 2020 [[previous]](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50630165947_7250da40fe_b.jpg): existing has drained enough of my soul these past couple months that I've yet to do any actual writing related to this for a while now, but luckily, the next chapter has been pretty much planned out at this point! Deadlines are still cancelled, but expect that (and another [fun surprise](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50630165962_a33fba22cb_o.jpg)) sometime after the new ports of DQXI S are released.
> 
> Also, though this might be incredibly obvious since it was done a month ago, there's been a slew of edits across the entire story up this point, including a much-needed facelift <strike>that makes them not read like I was writing entirely by the seat of my pants</strike> for the first seven chapters! I'd originally planned on keeping them as they were, since the way the prose steadily begins to unfurl and grow more complex fits what I'm trying to convey with this fanfic, but constantly seeing it so barebones as it was had grated my nerves enough that I ended up rewriting a bunch of them. Most of the original dialogue is closer to the wordiness of later chapters and there's some extra bits of foreshadowing for things I hadn't planned at the time or coming later (the second half of Gallopolis is particularly notable), but the flow of events is still the same as before.
> 
> Take care of yourselves, and thanks for reading.

Erik slowly shimmied down to the outer corner of the carved crypt wall, keeping his steps light to not make much noise. It had long since become an unconscious habit by then with his thieving career—he’d snuck around ships, mansions, merchant caravans, a casino, and even a whole castle once or twice. But even without the danger of being caught and thrown into a cell this time around, things felt a lot more tense, thanks to the graveyard’s worth of un-deadly monsters prowling around under his nose.

“You’re sure the coast is clear this time?” asked a girl’s grating voice. And, of course, there was also his newfound companions fuddling things up.

Erik couldn’t help shooting a look at the speaker, a short-sized and lavender-eyed blonde girl in a red dress and matching pointed bonnet, lugging around a staff almost twice as big as she was. Veronica was her name, and despite all the boasting that she could take care of herself, Erik desperately wished she’d stayed behind in Hotto, since she hadn’t been much more than a nuisance this entire escapade.

Looming behind and above her was Eleven, the reincarnation of the heroic Luminary, another teenager a few years younger than Erik with surprisingly smooth brown hair falling above his shoulders and dressed in a purple tunic. He kept his eyes on their rear, making sure nothing else popped up from the crypt’s dingy shadows to ambush them.

Erik craned his head to look past the wall. Instead of more labyrinth, he saw nothing but a short corridor leading to another set of double doors, with no monsters in sight. “Looks like it,” he said.

“Are you sure?” Veronica grouchily asked. “Because if we run into another group of undead brutes you managed to miss, or fall into another pit, I swear I—”

“Yes, I’m sure,” Erik interrupted. Unlike this girl, he was careful to keep his voice low and even, before they drew any more monsters to them. Before she could snap back, Erik asked, “Eleven, anything behind us?” and he met Erik’s gaze with a shake of his head.

“Okay,” Erik said, turning back to the corridor, “let’s go and see what’s behind this door.”

The three of them turned the corner and jogged down the hallway unhampered, stopping when they reached the door. Eleven and Veronica stepped to either side as Erik moved against it, placing his ear on the crook between each door and listening in. After encountering more than a fair share of walking corpses and bizarre mud dolls from falling into booby-trapped pits, Erik wanted to be prepared this time around. Listening closely, the only thing he could hear was…dripping water?

“Doesn’t seem like anything dangerous is lurking around in here,” Erik reported. “But just to be sure, I’ll—”

“Oh, for Yggdrasil’s sake…” Veronica huffed. Erik felt a prod of annoyance as she shoved him to the side, then forced herself against the door.

“Hey! We don’t know what’s behind there!” Erik pointed out.

“_No,_ we _don’t,”_ Veronica snapped back. She groaned as she pushed against the door with her small frame. “But…of all the things it can be…one of them could be my sister…so we’re barging in anyway!” The door hadn’t budged at all by the time she’d finished speaking, and she stepped back from the door with a frustrated puff. “Give me a hand here, will you?” she asked, gesturing to Eleven.

Erik sighed wearily as Eleven traded places with Veronica. He’d only known this girl for half a day, and yet she was easily becoming the most irritating person he’d ever met, as hard as it was to reason with her. He had to admit, he did respect her dedication to finding her sister, but that didn’t mean she needed to be so tunnel visioned while she was at it.

Then again, that might be balanced out by the fact that she might only have to _find_ her sister…

Eleven put both hands on the door and pushed, and it opened with a heavy groan. Instead of the same crumbling gloomy ambiance as the rest of the crypt, an ornate Goddess statue spring stood in the room ahead, the soft blue light from its clear pool somehow reflecting off the walls to brighten its surroundings.

“One heck of a fountain to be hidden away down here,” Erik thought out loud as they entered. Odd choice to have a holy sculpture in the middle of a monster-infested tomb—or even having having a tomb this big in the first place—but it wasn’t like he could complain.

Something about the room seemed to pull on Veronica’s nerves, and Erik looked past Eleven to find her tense and fidgety. Her eyes darted around the room as if the monsters would crawl out of the walls, until they locked onto somewhere on the other side of the fountain. She called out, “Over there!” before scampering across the room, and they followed to where a girl in a green dress lay on the floor. Veronica fell to her knees by them, and said “Serena! Wake up! It’s me, Veronica!”

Erik was immediately confused. Wasn’t that supposed to be her _younger_ sister? He’d imagined them to be just as small as Veronica, if not shorter, but the girl lying on the dusty floor looked like she would tower over Veronica at full height. “That’s your sister?” he asked.

Veronica didn’t answer him, still focused on the unresponsive girl. “Serena! We said we’d be here for each other, didn’t we? Well, I’m here for you now—so pull yourself together!”

Her fervor hung fruitlessly in the air for a few seconds, and Veronica’s head slumped—until the girl in green began to stir. As Serena sluggishy raised herself from the floor, her straight blonde hair fell neatly below her shoulders, and she rubbed her sleepy eyes as she turned towards her sister. “Oh…I’m…I’m ever so sorry…” she muttered, “It’s just… Well, I was so awfully tired after all that searching that I needed a nap, and…”

Serena trailed off at that last word, turning to face Veronica—and when she finally noticed her apparently older sister, she recoiled with surprise, her lavender eyes growing lucid. “Veronica!? Is that really you? What in the world happened to you?”

“Huh?” Veronica stammered out with her own disbelief. “But…how did you know it was me?”

“Well, we’ve been sisters for so long that we could recognize each other even with a complete makeover, you know,” Serena giggled.

“Oh yes, very funny!” Veronica grumbled, crossing her arms. “What were you doing, taking a nap on the ground like that? Especially in a dusty hole like this? I—I thought you’d gone and well—y’know…” She trailed off, looking away from her sister with a pout. Serena only seemed to find her sister’s anxiety amusing, and she giggled a little more.

Erik couldn’t help finding the entire exchange a little incredulous. “Uh, sorry to interrupt your reunion, but didn’t you tell us Serena was your ‘kid’ sister?” he asked.

Both sisters stood up at his question before exchanging a glance. “Well, if you want to get technical about it, actually we’re twins,” Veronica corrected, looking down at herself. “But we don’t look the same age anymore because of those stupid monsters. They’ve been kidnapping people so they can steal their magical powers, like they did with me at that bathhouse. I didn’t let them have mine without putting up a fight, but the more I resisted, the younger I got.” She shrugged. “I don’t quite understand it, but instead of draining my magic, they drained my…age.”

Veronica’s expression suddenly soured with a groan, and she jabbed an accusatory finger at him and Eleven. “What’s important, though, is that I’m not a child. So _stop treating me like one!”_

“Okay, we get it, you’re not a kid,” Erik said, taken aback and more than a little surprised himself. He’d shoved down a quip about her bluffing about actually being a spellcaster, since she hadn’t cast a lick of magic since they’d left Hotto, but after seeing the resemblance to her sister, things were starting to make sense. He was a little grateful, too—Erik halfway expected Serena to be just as fiery as Veronica, but what with how she’d gotten calmed down by just a few amused giggles, it seemed like Serena was the breeze that cooled her sister’s temper. “You dragged us out here to find your sister, and we’ve taken care of that,” he said with a nod towards Serena, “but don’t you want to do something about your look?”

Veronica flashed a mischievous smile. “Of course I do! We’re going to go clobber those stupid monsters and see if we can fix this! They’ve holed themselves somewhere up ahead, so here’s what we can do…”


	2. Hottonian Halt

Serena gently rocked back and forth as she stared into the campfire before her, the heat radiating from the fire and the tea warming her hands serving as welcome comforts. This far away from the natural hot springs of the Hotto Steppe, the occasional breeze drifting through the eastern valley nearly chilled her to the bone, not unlike how her home region could be sometimes.

To her right was Veronica, soundly sleeping on the bundle of hay they shared. Even though she was still stuck in her childlike form, getting her magic back from those dreadful monsters in the crypt seemed to make her even hungrier than usual. She had wolfed down the inn’s sweet rolls long before anyone else had finished their morning’s breakfast and had slurped up tonight’s portion of soup quickly as well. Of course, the red bean paste of the rolls had been delightful to Serena’s sweet tooth, but since Veronica had been eating Serena’s cooking all her life, her ravenous hunger was quite amusing.

Eleven hung in the outer ring of the firelight, whaling away at that portable forge of his to refine a piece of equipment. He certainly had that heroic determination shining in his eyes like Erdwin before him, but compared to the legends Serena had read about the Luminary of Legend growing up, the present reincarnation was…a bit peculiar. She’d expected him to be more outwardly heroic, but behind his exceptional sharpness Eleven seemed to fall into being just as absentminded as she could be at times.

According to Erik, Eleven had been more outspoken and a bit of a troublemaker when he was younger, but reaching sixteen years of age had changed him in some profound way. Most of the time, the Luminary could only take action when he was compelled by some mysterious force, one that felt familiar but at the same time otherworldly. It sounded strange when Erik told it to Serena, but she assumed it had something to do with the World Tree’s will working through Eleven, so she found little reason to question it.

And Erik himself…a young man in a worn olive tunic with curved, spiky cyan hair like that of a hedgehog, he sat upon a log on the other side of the fire, polishing his divine dagger with a whetstone. He didn’t seem to be particularly happy that the party was resting when the Rainbough was somewhere up ahead in Gallopolis. Eleven had insisted upon tempering hers and Veronica’s wands along with forging a new sword for himself though, so Erik reluctantly agreed to settle down for the evening. His manner was rather unseemly, but since he’d had little to say to her or Veronica since this morning, she couldn’t glean much about him other than that…

“So, Erik…” Serena began, “How did you come to meet Noah? He seems to be someone who wanders around quite a bit.”

Erik didn’t look up from his knife. “Oh, Noah? I met him a couple years back, hunting around for tidbits about some old Zwaardsrustian relics changing hands,” he said.

“Relics from the late Kingdom of Flowers?” Serena perplexedly replied. “What could you be doing, looking for those?”

It took a moment for Erik to reply. “Well, y’know… To take care of some…underhanded extractions, for people who might need them more.”

“Underhanded extractions? What does that entail?”

“Uh…” Erik paused in his sharpening, reaching up to sheepishly scratch behind his head. “Well, it’s—”

Veronica loudly groaned from where she lay. “He’s a thief, Serena,” she said matter-of-factly.

“Oh my…” Serena breathed. No wonder he was so hush-hush about his exploits. “I think this is the first time I’ve ever been in conversation with a thief before! To be perfectly honest, I’m not sure if I would have pegged you for one in the first place.”

“Really? How else would I have learned how to snatch things from monsters right under their noses?”

“Well, I can’t say I’ve come across many thieves in my lifetime, but most of them tend to be rather unpleasant. You seem to be much more of an honest fellow than your average outlaw.”

“Thanks, I guess?” Erik shrugged. “Honesty’s not exactly a plus in my line of work. Heck, if you _do_ run into a thief trying to look honest, they’re probably grooming you for a chance at your coffers.”

Serena giggled. “Well then, I suppose you’re planning on buttering us up in wait for the perfect moment to run off with all our valuables, aren’t you?” she asked playfully.

“What? You’re kidding, right? None of us here even look like we’ve got anything worth stealing. No offense, but anyone actually worth their scores wouldn’t even spare us a second glance.”

Veronica produced an audible yawn. “Hmmm…I guess what our newfound partner-in-crime lacks in a sense of humor is made up by his unflagging honesty…”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever you say,” Erik grumbled, waving his hand dismissively.

“Oh, come now, I’m sure being honest would have its own benefits, especially outside of your past occupations,” Serena pointed out. But, neither Erik nor Veronica responded.

_There she goes with that sharp tongue of hers again,_ Serena thought. No doubt Erik would be rather irritable after that exchange, and Veronica likely wanted to return to her rest, so Serena was fine with letting things fizzle out for a little while. She let her mind wander, mulling over what little she knew about thieves.

Oddly enough, she didn’t find the idea of a lapsed thief traveling around with a hero to be very surprising—but that was likely due to all the storybooks she had read as a child, some of them involving bandits with good hearts joining with the forces of good. There was one in particular, _Sky, Ocean, and Earth,_ that involved a former brigand traveling with a cursed monarch…though, Serena didn’t find their parts nearly as interesting as the romance between the chivalric hero and princess at the heart of the story, of course.

After a few minutes, the evening wind drifted through the campsite to chill her skin once more, and Serena took another sip of her tea, feeling its warmth glide down her throat and spread through her body. Now that she thought about that particular story, she remembered the auspicious way that the bandit first met the hero…and she couldn’t help wondering how Erik had met Eleven as well.

“Say, Erik,” Serena piqued, “How did you come to cross paths with the Luminary in the first place?”

“Eleven? He ended up in the same prison as me,” he dryly replied.

“What!?” Serena blurted, feeling the hay bale rustle as her sister fidgeted.

“Yep. As far as the great kingdom of Heliodor is concerned, we pretty much are partners-in-crime—but Eleven ended up there just because he’s the Luminary. Just about every soldier we ran into kept yelling something about him being the ‘Darkspawn’ or some other mess. As for me, I’d gotten brought in after I’d snatched away another precious artifact with an old friend a few days before.”

“Gosh…” Serena said, raising a hand to her chest. “From what I’ve heard, Heliodor has the strongest military in the entire world. It’s a miracle you two made it out of there alive.”

“No kidding,” Erik smirked, glancing towards Eleven. “But hey, I guess when you tag along with the reincarnation of the world’s savior, mysterious forces like to hand out free passes.”

Serena let out a light chuckle. “I suppose Yggdrasil Herself wants to make sure you remain by the Luminary’s side. But what’s this about another artifact?”

“Oh, that? It should be around here somewhere…” Erik reached behind his log to rummage around in his knapsack, then pulled out a clear glowing sphere, the light within shining a crisp crimson.

“Wow,” Serena breathed, dazzled by its radiance. “What is it?”

“The Red Orb of Heliodor,” Erik answered. Despite his smirk, the way he stared into the sphere with his eyes narrowed made his expression look rather wistful. “Went through a lot of trouble to snatch this thing. Me and my old partner had been eying it long before I ended up tagging along with Eleven, but he was a pal enough to let me run off with it.” 

“What do you plan on doing with it?”

“Don’t know. Was planning on selling it for a pretty penny, but since the last glowing rock we ran into ended up being a literal lifesaver, I’m just gonna hang onto it for now.”

“And you stole this away from Heliodor?” Serena asked, which Erik answered with a nod. “Hmhm, well, if you’re clever enough to get away with valuables from the mightiest kingdom in Erdrea, I’m certain your skillset will come in handy on the journey.”

“Heh, thanks,” Erik replied, smiling genuinely this time. He put the Orb away and returned his attention to his dagger, seemingly content with the conversation.

Serena could only find Erik more peculiar after their exchange. He was rather curt, and certainly didn’t seem willing to show much of himself, but he seemed particularly motivated to be on this quest. Despite his warnings from before, she was certain Erik would remain alongside them, come what may.

A low, mischievous chuckled of a lump wizard echoed in Serena’s ears, and a chill creeped down her spine, making her shiver. Lump wizards weren’t particularly scary on their own—they were actually quite amusing to watch as they rolled around with that squishy body of theirs—but knowing that the monsters lurked around in the nighttime darkness gave their laughs a sinister air. Serena took a longer sip of her tea.

Footsteps sounded from nearby, and Serena turned to find Eleven approaching the campfire from his forge, carrying a bundle of armaments. Wedged between a new bronze sword and Veronica’s larger red staff was Serena’s, not much longer than her arm and topped by a winged spiral. Eleven took it from the bundle and offered it to Serena, and she made a delighted “oooh” as she felt the improved magic-channeling capabilities within her trusty wand.

“Cool, you’re finished,” Erik said, sheathing his dagger. He stood up and stretched. “Alright, it’s time for lights out. The longer we sit here, the further away that Rainbough gets away from us. I’m gonna set up that tent we picked up.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> <strike>"pretty far ahead" = nearing the end of the main game, of course >>'</strike>  
[UPDATE 17 Jan 2020: pretty sure I was at Hotto in Act II when this chapter went live. I was very, very, _very_ wrong with how huge this thing would get in that first month.]


	3. Gallopolitan Scramble

Erik’s heart skipped as he jumped back just before the giant plated tail crashed where he stood, tossing up a cloud of sand. He stumbled on landing and fell to his knees, and his heart went back to pumping as his attacker briefly crossed his vision: the Slayer of the Sands. The terror of Gallopolis was an oversized sandy-colored scorpion, walking on a quartet of tiny legs and bristling with a vicious array of claws and pincers. None of those seemed nearly as deadly as its tail though, which Erik had been lucky enough to avoid so far. The Slayer twisted its curl of a body back to him a second later, and Erik scrambled to get up before the beast charged him again.

A yodel sounded off from nearby, and the Slayer jerked away from a stab to it’s side. The monster slashed in the direction of its attacker, but he was already dancing out of its range: Sylvando, a jester whose suave looks worked oddly well with his red and black jester’s tunic. Despite his showy circus shenanigans, he was one heck of a fighter—he’d been weaving in and out of the scorpion’s range to smoothly strike with his thin sword, and the few hits he’d taken hadn’t seemed to mess with his rhythm at all.

The Slayer’s attention shifted to a retreating Sylvando, raising its claws to chase after, but Eleven rushed in from the edge of Erik’s vision, skidding to a stop in front of the jester. Eleven raised a hand to the sky, and a bolt of lightning flashed down to strike the scorpion. The Slayer shrieked as it stumbled back, and Erik couldn’t help grinning—of all the monsters Eleven had used his new thunder-summoning Luminary powers on, the Slayer seemed to handle it the worst.

Taking the opportunity to calm himself, Erik got to his feet and warily watched the beast, waiting for another moment to rush in again. He took a few deep breaths as he considered how long the fight had gone for—seconds seemed to stretch achingly longer than they really were when he was focused in a scrap, and though the last exchange felt like a minute, Erik knew it’d only been a few seconds.

He didn’t have to wait long—Eleven and Sylvando separated from each other again to divide the Slayer’s attention, and Erik saw his window. He rushed towards the scorpion’s exposed backside, ignoring the smell of singled carapace from another of Veronica’s fireballs, and scored a stab on it’s flank.

The beast cried out louder than before, and Erik knew he’d gotten a pretty good strike. By then, he wagered the thing would be on it’s last legs, so they just needed—

The Slayer lashed out with all its limbs at once, swinging its tail in a wide arc behind itself—Erik was too late to see, and it slammed into him with the force of a warhorse, sending him flying. 

He landed on his back without much pain, thankful for the dunes cushioning his fall. Sitting up with a groan, Erik expected to feel a tender bruise on his stomach, but light green sparkles quickly dissolved around him with most of the pain. He silently thanked Serena’s penchant for healing, which was nothing less than a goddessend since she’d joined up with them, so both him and Eleven could focus on fighting.

By the time he’d returned his attention to the the Slayer it had gone into a full-on frenzy. It lashed out against Eleven and Sylvando haphazardly, slashing and swinging and twisting and turning, throwing up plumes of sand as they avoided the brunt of its attacks. A sandy haze soon began to obscure the Slayer, and Eleven and Sylvando kept far away from the dust cloud.

The scorpion kept twisting and slashing through the haze for a few seconds, shrieking all the while. Still battered from his fall, Erik got to his feet as the dust began to clear, and the beast calmed down with it. The Slayer hissed as it glanced around, feverishly searching for one of them to strike at, and Erik glanced at Eleven and Sylvando, readying himself to catch it unaware again…

Erik’s ears caught a distant gasp, and he turned in its direction to Veronica and Serena, a couple dozen feet away from the Slayer’s rear. Veronica fiercely brandished her wizard’s staff despite the size difference, and Serena stood behind her, staring at the pattern on the Slayer’s backside with a hand in front of her fearful face.

The Slayer heard her gasp as well, turning and locking it’s gaze on the sisters. Veronica was quick to react and dashed out of it’s way, while Serena continued to stand, petrified. When the scorpion brandished its claws at her, Erik’s pulse skipped, and he yelled, “Serena! Get out of there!”

His call jolted Serena out of her trance, right as the Slayer lunged across the sand at her, clearing the space in a second and lashing out with its tail. Serena jumped out of the way at the last second—but its tail clipped her side during her leap, and she landed on the ground in a heap.

Well, that definitely wasn’t good. Without Serena’s healing, they might as well—

The Slayer suddenly shrieked and lurched forward, smoke rising from its backside. A furious _“Hey!”_ rung out from nearby—and Erik followed the Slayer’s turn to Veronica, her look livid as she summoned a fireball almost as large as her head. _“Keep your stupid ugly claws away from my sister!”_ she screamed, launching the flame across the sand.

Her fireball crashed into the Slayer with a sizable explosion, and the scorpion stumbled backwards, much more weakly than before. It began to shake as it released a paltry wail, then collapsed onto the ground, tossing up a cloud of sand.

Erik let out a relieved breath, despite his heart still pounding against his chest. Seeing that Eleven and Sylvando were fine, he crossed the sands towards Serena, careful to give the Slayer a wide berth—since it hadn’t dissolved into dust like a typical monster, he was wary of it getting up again.

Veronica was already there and feverishly consoling her sister by the time Erik and Eleven reached the pair. Serena had sat up from her fall, looking mostly unharmed as she brushed sand from herself, but her still-stricken face told otherwise.

“Hey, you okay?” Erik asked.

“Yes, I’m alright,” Serena replied, her voice slightly wavering. Eleven seemed to take that as enough as he nodded at her, but her uncertain tone didn’t convince Erik. 

“You sure? You froze up pretty hard there.”

Serena raised a hand to her cheek, her unease deepening. “Well, it’s—”

“Excuse me, darlings,” Sylvando’s voice called from behind, “I could use a hand with tying up our grumpy friend here!” Erik turned to find him standing near the Slayer’s limp form, holding up a long chain to tie up the beast with.

Erik and Eleven left the sisters to recover and helped Sylvando restrain the scorpion. Still tense from all the fighting, lifting the Slayer up so Sylvando could properly wrap the chain around kept Erik anxious of the thing waking up and attacking again the whole time, but they had it tightly bound after a few minutes.

As Sylvando finished the final wrap, Erik heard a whimper from the crags behind them, and he turned to see a hesitant face topped by a puffy feathered hat peeking out from behind a rock pillar.

Prince Faris’s expression morphed into bewilderment as he noticed the chained Slayer, and he scuttled out from his hiding spot, his retinue of knights following behind with disbelieving mutters. Seeing the pacified terror up close, Faris laughed like he’d won a hard-fought victory—but Erik doubted this pampered prince had ever won anything with his own effort.

“The battle is won!” Faris proclaimed. “The Slayer of the Sands is bested! All in a day’s work for the Prince of Gallopolis!” He raised a self-assured hand to his soldiers. “You saw me, men, did you not? You witnessed the people’s prince defeat the fiend that terrorized them so?” A pair of the men shared a knowing glance, but one of the soldiers nodded and saluted with a “Of course, your Highness!” and the rest followed suit with similar gestures.

Erik let out a sigh. Could these guys really be just fine with the prince taking all the credit like this? For all their spouting about honor and pledges and never retreating from adversity, this sure showed how much those ideas were really worth to royalty. The sisters approached Erik from nearby, and when he met Serena’s settled but still confused expression, he simply shrugged. 

Faris’s soldiers positioned themselves to lug the limp Slayer to their cart, and the prince himself took Eleven to the side to speak to him. Hopefully, with this crazy scorpion out of the way the party could finally get their hands on the Rainbough so they find their way out of this sweltering desert—but Erik halfway expected some other problem would fall out of the sky for them to solve before that happened.

“Don’t tell me the pompous prince is going to run off with all the credit now, is he?” Veronica moaned.

“Looks like it,” Erik said. Veronica produced a groan, but he could tell that was more out of acceptance than frustration. Apparently Prince Faris had been pampered all his life, even moreso than your average royal, and couldn’t so much as breathe without being smothered by expectations he couldn’t ever meet. What with how he’d handled the fiasco with the horse race the day before, Erik figured this was probably business as usual for him.

When Faris was finished speaking with Eleven, he started back towards his retinue of soldiers, who’d finished hefting the Slayer onto their big horse-drawn cart and were ready to head back to the city with their not-fought prize. 

“Really princey-poo? That’s how you’re going to play things?” The prince had managed to walk right past Sylvando lounging against the pillar he’d hidden behind the entire battle, and the jester’s voice was as sharp as his smooth voice could be. “And what do you think your people will be expecting of you next, eh?” Sylvando asked.

Faris indignantly turned to the jester. “You speak as if I have a choice! Are you suggesting that I disappoint my father and the citizens of Gallopolis!?”

Sylvando waved a dismissive hand, then looked at the prince as if he were a misguided child. “I’m not suggesting anything, darling. You do what you need to do.”

Prince Faris sharply turned on his heel back to his retinue with frustrated sputters. His walk quickly returned to its self-absorbed stride, and he called out, “To Gallopolis, men! We return as heroes! Yeah!”

The party joined Sylvando and watched as the Gallopolitans went off in the distance. Sylvando sighed audibly, and Erik shook his head at the whole exchange. All that work risking life and limb, just for some puffed-up royal to run off with the glory. None of them were in it for the glory, of course, but still…

“Well, this is all kinds of wrong, isn’t it,” Erik said. “You’re right, Sylvando—nothing’s going to change if he keeps on pretending to be the perfect prince.”

Sylvando’s face was inscrutable. “Oh, I think the poor boy knows enough. All he needs is a little push…”

* * *

Whatever push Mister Sylvando thought of for Prince Faris had certainly become a shove, to say the least.

Serena had thought the party’s return to Gallopolis would have given everyone a break from the morning’s excitement, but even more awaited them upon their arrival: the Slayer had broken loose of its chains during the celebration of its defeat!

With all the lofty expectations weighing upon him, Prince Faris had been pressured into fighting the scorpion, but nearly cracked under the weight of it all. Things would have fallen into chaos…but then, Mister Sylvando had suddenly appeared like a storybook hero in the climatic moment, giving the prince a rousing speech and swooping in with an armamentalist’s grace to save the day when Faris stumbled once more!

Veronica and Erik were both quite outspoken about the prince’s tendencies, and though Serena couldn’t deny she felt the same at times, she couldn’t help but sympathize with Faris. He had to navigate all the trappings of royalty along with the high chivalric expectations of knighthood, but his lifelong pampering had left him little way of contending with them. Serena and her sister had to deal with similar pressures growing up, both having inherited a portion of the soul of the great sage Serenica.

Their situation wasn’t nearly as bad, though, as everyone in Arboria did their best to treat them like normal children despite their destiny. Serena thought about some of her favorite people waiting for them back home: there was Marcie, always coming to them for a tip in magic or two, Anabelle and her melodic voice accompanying Serena’s lyre or village ceremonies—and not to mention Lucius and Victor, who Serena still found endearing despite their former troublesome inclinations. Then there was the elderly Miss Eva, who had always encouraged Serena’s love for stories, and Mister and Miss Cornelia with their habit of getting as many Arborians they could in on whatever business schemes for the few visitors the village received. Most importantly, there was their parents, who always saw fit to remind them of their talents, and also to dote about them to the other villagers for good measure, much to the annoyance of others at times. Serena hoped they all fared well in their absence.

Nearly two months had passed since Serena and her sister had embarked on their journey to find the Luminary, first by visiting Heliodor far to the south of Arboria, then traveling across the southeastern continent when they found no sign of him there. They had accomplished that, and were hopefully well on their way on finding a way to the World Tree, but what Serena had found most surprising along the way was witnessing all of Erdrea’s different cultures firsthand. She had read all she could about the kingdoms of the world before they had set out, but that certainly didn’t compare to seeing their quirks in person—Serena could still remember the disbelief she’d had when listening to Hotto’s poetic dialect for the first time; how effortlessly they could express themselves within its strict constraints.

Amusingly, Gallopolis was almost exactly as her textbooks described with their fascination with horses, since their devotion seemed to reach into every aspect of its culture: its name, their mythology, their traditions, their art, and more. Even the inn Serena resided within was lavishly decorated with horse-related motifs, from the carvings on the baseboards and even the legs of the bed she sat upon. And though it was likely an aspect of the Sand National, most of their cuisine had horse-themed names as well…

A hollow moan rumbled from Serena’s stomach, interrupting her musings. Thinking about food reminded her of Veronica and the others, out to bring back some dinner. After the incident with the Slayer, the Sultan had retreated with his son into the palace, barring them from inquiring about the Rainbough until tomorrow. Veronica and Eleven and Erik still managed to have energy left over after all the day’s events, so it fell upon Serena to reserve them a room for the evening; one with a trio of beds, red drapery on the walls with a matching carpet, and a table in the center.

Serena looked out the window to the side of her bed. A portion of the sun had already set behind the crags towering above the city walls, leaving the surrounding sky a muted orange-purple. She certainly wasn’t one to be pushy, but if only they would hurry in returning with something for her to eat…

As if responding to her predicament, Serena’s ears picked up muffled footsteps from outside, and the door opened to reveal Erik with the innkeeper in tow, no sign of Veronica or Eleven—nor any food, unfortunately. The innkeeper closed the door after him, and Erik trudged over to the bed on the other side of the room to sit down with a sigh. “Hey, Serena.”

“Is something the matter?” Serena asked, noticing the annoyance in his voice.

Erik perked up, seemingly remembering she was there. “Well for better or worse, word’s spread around the city that Eleven took the prince’s place in the horse race yesterday. Don’t know how the heck it got out there, but El’s bound to be the talk of the city soon.”

“Oh…that’s unfortunate, but, erm—you didn’t happen to bring any dinner back, did you?”

“We were trying to get something from that bar, but Eleven got pulled aside by some people the moment we walked in. Apparently, the bunny girl who works there was the first to catch wind of it and spread the rumor while we were out fighting that scorpion.”

Serena titled her head perplexedly. “That’s…good, I suppose?”

“Not really. We’re wanted men, remember? Long as it’s been since we got away from Heliodor, word about us that is bound to have made it over here by now.”

“Well, Heliodor is quite far away from here; and plus, this continent is rather isolated from the rest of the world. If you’ve seen no signs of them since then, I don’t think you’d have to worry too much about that.” 

Erik shook his head. “I don’t know…I still don’t feel like all this talk about him can be good. The only thing you could hear from that bar that wasn’t racing was stuff about the circus and Sylvando, but now they’re all talking about Eleven—even with that stunt that jester pulled today, too.”

“Oh, yes, that certainly was a marvelous display, wasn’t it?” Serena said, her voice taking a dreamy tone. “I was so sure we would’ve been too late when that awful Slayer broke loose, but Mister Sylvando was there just in time to save the day…”

Erik scoffed. “More like crazy, if you ask me. Honestly, I’m suspicious of how he knew that thing was gonna get back up after the beating it went through…”

“It is quite uncanny, but given how well he fights, it’s probably only natural for him. I certainly don’t think I’d mind him joining our merry band.”

“I don’t know if I’d want a noisy like him on board, even if he’s that good at fighting troublesome monsters…” Erik sighed. Recognition passed over his face a moment later, and he asked, “Oh yeah—speaking of that thing, what happened with you freezing up back there?”

A twinge of nervousness pulled at Serena. “Oh, dear…” she breathed, cupping her cheek. She’d always been candid with talking about her feelings among familiar company, and Erik wasn’t much of a stranger anymore, so she found her reluctance unusual. “Well…it was that dreadful-looking pattern on the Slayer’s backside…I had never noticed it until that moment.”

“Those weird-looking pair of eyes? They didn’t seem that spooky to me.”

“It wasn’t so much the pattern itself as much as it is what it reminds me of…” Serena sighed, unable to tell if it was from embarrassment or something else. “When Veronica and I were younger, a couple of the more…mischievous peers of our village had a habit of playing pranks on other kids. Our life growing up wasn’t the most eventful, you see, and even I knew causing mischief was one way of adding a bit of excitement to our lives.

“There was one late autumn evening in particular…our home is surrounded by quite a lot of trees, and the wind can pile up large heaps of orange leaves in places…and they lay in wait for us within a shadowed pile outside our own home. I walked up to the front porch—and then they suddenly burst from the leaves, playing the part of those dreadful shades from the crypt, shrill hissing and everything. But their eyes—they had added more patterns to their disguise to accent those awful glowing eyes, and seeing them just appear from the darkness gave me a terrible fright.

“I burst out crying, and they burst out in laughter. Of course, Veronica was with me then too, and she wasn’t disturbed one bit—her tongue wasn’t as sharp growing up as it is now, but she still had more than enough scathing words ready for them. By the end of the whole affair, she had them running off in terror of her, practically ready to burn their houses down.”

Erik chuckled as she finished her story. “Sounds pretty typical—you healing her when she gets into too much danger, and her keeping you safe from jerks. Guess you two have always been there to pick each other up from your scrapes, huh?”

Serena nodded solemnly. “Yes, that’s certainly so.” Every time one of them faltered, the other was there to lift them up from their stumbles. Except, in Serena’s case, Veronica always seemed to be the one picking up the slack for her more often than not…

Something tugged at her to tell Erik this as well, but she left the words unsaid.

“That’s good,” Erik replied, shifting on the bed into a relaxed position. “It’s nice to have family you can lean on like that.”

“Oh, do you have any siblings as well?”

Erik’s posture stiffened. “No.” His curt reply didn’t invite any further discussion.

A knocking on the door drew their attention, and a moment later Eleven and Veronica entered the room, the former carrying a small covered basket with a delectable smell wafting from within.

Veronica walked with a spring in her step. “Well, we might not have our hands on the Rainbough just yet,” she chimed, gesturing to Eleven, “but we _will_ get to enjoy some fruits of our labor from the past couple days.” The Luminary placed the basket on the table and removed the cover, revealing a pile of golden-breaded meat patties.

Serena released a delighted gasp. “Could those be the cactus cutlets we helped the man at the Aloe Beera make?”

“Yep! Took us a while to get these, since the whole bar was pestering Eleven about taking the prince’s place, but it was _so_ worth it.” Veronica took a cutlet from the basket and handed it to Serena.

“So, how’d you convince those barkeeps you were old enough to be in there this time?” Erik asked wryly.

Veronica groaned as she took out a cutlet for herself. “You’re asking _me_ that? _You_ were the one who left early just before we got a chance to order something! Too afraid of being outed like the scoundrel you are?”

“Scoundrel? Hey, I might be a thief, but at least I’ve got values!”

Oh dear…there they go again. By then, Serena’s hopes that her sister and Erik’s squabbles would settle down looked less and less likely. She glanced at Eleven, hoping he would want to do something that might pacify them—but the Luminary quietly sat at the table, bemusedly watching the two argue as he munched on a cutlet.

Serena let out a disappointed sigh. She wondered if Mister Sylvando would have any luck at mediating their quarrels…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this one may or may not have been inspired by Serena getting one-shotted by a desperate attack in the opening round of the Slayer fight in my S playthrough.


	4. Prickly Gondolian Pickles

“You can’t be serious.”

The young Gondolian maid in green before Erik shook her head. “Si, assolutamente! The merchant you seek, the one with the colored branch, he leave Gondolia some time ago—yesterday, I think.”

Erik let out a frustrated groan. “Do you have any idea where the merchant would’ve gone?” He’d sailed around enough to know that there weren’t that many major ports in the inland sea, so maybe he could guess if he got a general direction…

The lady hummed thoughtfully for a couple seconds before shaking her head again, and Erik’s seemed to droop on its own. “Ugh. Thanks anyway.” The maid went back to fiddling around with her market stall of seafood, and Erik turned around and started across the western canal, heading towards the docks.

Well, that was just great. First the Sultan tells them that he sold the Rainbough to some posh merchant, then the party follows that breadcrumb through a humid lagoon to reach this city, just for it to get carted off somewhere across the ocean. He’d been hopeful that they’d be able to catch the guy before he he hopped on a ship, but no dice.

By then, the merchant was probably halfway across the sea, and that would’ve been the end of their little hunt…had that Sylvando guy not conveniently wormed his way into their band a couple days ago. Convenient, because apparently he owned a whole ship of his own that was docked right there in Gondolia, and was willing to let the party use it to track the branch down. Erik still harbored his suspicious about the guy—especially since he’d been dragged along by charming eccentrics just to get the rug yanked out from under him before—but the more Erik thought about Sylvando, the less he could think of any reasons the jester would want to pull a fast one on them.

As Erik made his way up the stairs, he overheard a couple more people mention something about a “Signor Universo.” Judging from all the decorated market stalls he’d seen around the city, it was probably another strange event taking place, but Erik couldn’t wager a guess as for what. With so many lining the central thoroughfare and nestled in corners around the city, Erik knew the streets would be full of loaded shoppers soon. If he weren’t tagging along with Eleven and the rest of the band, he probably would’ve gotten sticky fingers near a few pockets by now—but Erik figured that’d probably mess with what goodwill he had with the Seer, that oddball fortune teller who’d predicted he’d meet Eleven if he went after the Red Orb, then disappeared without a trace since then.

He turned a corner as he reached the top of the stairs. He couldn’t help wondering, though—what the heck would a mystery like them be doing if—

Erik ran facefirst into someone and stumbled backwards, barely managing to stop himself before he tumbled down the steps. He wrenched himself up with a glare and irritable “Hey! Watch where you’re—”

His heart forgot its pulse as a specter from his past filled his vision, a burly man with a brown bush of a mustache and tangled beard to match. His tree trunk-like build didn’t stand out from any of the other sailors Erik had seen in the city so far—but the dark shirt and horned helmet atop his head marked him as a distinctive foreigner from the north.

The Viking squinted down at him with an indignant frown. “You ask me to watch where I going!?” he snapped, jabbing a finger at Erik. “Maybe you follow your own advice and keep your head out of the clouds before you walk into a wall, si!?”

Before Erik knew it, a panicked scream had leapt from his mouth, and then he was barreling back down the stairs, nearly falling flat on his face when he hit the bottom. He turned right and rushed down the canalside path, then stopped when he was within the shadows under an overpassing bridge. By the time he’d stopped, his pulse pounded at the rate of a metal slime, his thoughts spinning at the same speed.

A Viking. An honest-to-Goddess _Viking_, standing there, right in front of him—like the Goddess or the Seer or whatever celestial thing had picked one up from the north and plopped them here in this town. As far as Erik knew, none of their expeditions ever took them further than that craggy island next to Sniflheim’s southernmost peninsula—so what the hell was one doing _this far_ down south? Did _they_ somehow manage to catch wind of one of his capers? How would they have even found out? Were they working with the Heliodorians, or simply looking for him to give him what for?

Or even worse…they could be looking to snatch him back to Sniflheim, back to the drudgery of the hideout, and back to her…back to where all his troubles began.

Erik slumped against the wall under the bridge, waiting for his heart to quit beating against his chest. After a minute or two, it slowed to a patter before eventually calming down, and he took a deep breath as he tried to get a grip on the situation. He didn’t recognize who that guy was—and mercifully, they didn’t seem to recognize him—so chances are they were a new Viking with no idea of who Erik was. Since Gondolia was a fairly big city, and would probably get more crowded as the day went on, they probably wouldn’t run into each other again. If they did, Erik would just sink into a crowd or try to stick close to Eleven and the others.

He warily scanned his surroundings to see if anyone had noticed him run under the bridge. No sign of the Viking, and people were mingling around or riding through the canals like normal.

Just to be safe, Erik decided he’d take a longer way around to the docks, then. Scratching an itch on his neck, he started back to the southern part of the city.

* * *

Serena inhaled the newfound smell of the white lilies, their sweet fragrance eclipsing the salty air blowing off the ocean. Growing flowers was one of many ways Arborians cultivated a respect for nature, so she’d seen a myriad of flowers before, but never any lilies of this kind, nor had Serena ever found any in the surrounding highlands. She savored the smell as it suffused her nostrils for a few seconds longer, then backed away from the market stand with a grin. “Oh, Eleven, you’ve got to come smell these flowers!”

Eleven pulled himself away from a nearby stand of knick-knacks and came to smell the lilies. His sporadic bouts of silence were as odd to her as ever, but she was steadily becoming acquainted to it the more she saw him react to her inquiries like he did then, breathing in the scent and smiling when its fragrance filled his nose.

“Don’t they smell just delightful!” Serena asked, and Eleven nodded in agreement.

“Ah, you two like the scent of il fiore, si?” asked a voice from behind. They turned to find an elderly lady merchant smiling cordially at them. “The white lilies, special price for Signor Universo! 50 gold coins each!”

“50 gold coins?” Serena repeated, glancing at Eleven’s. She’d never actually bought flowers before, so she wasn’t sure if that was too expensive, but the party held onto plenty of money by way of him forging most of their equipment, so…

“Uummm, don’t you two think that 50 gold coins is a little bit expensive?” Veronica interjected, turning to them from an adjacent stand. “You could get, what—six medicinal herbs for that much? And it’s not like we’d have anywhere to put any flowers with how much we travel in the first place.”

The woman’s eager expression wilted a little. “Ahhhh, but the white lily, it have soothing powers too! Molto bene at taking pain off the mind. Breathe in the floral scent, and all your trouble seem to melt away…”

Veronica rolled her eyes. “Thanks lady, but we’ve got magic to handle our soothing needs. Come on, you two.” She began walking further down the boardwalk, and Eleven followed after her. Serena made sure to flash a conciliatory smile at the vendor before she tailed behind her companions.

“Gosh, we’ve only been through a little corner of the city, yet we’ve already encountered so many different merchants,” Serena said as she caught up.

“Yeah,” Veronica agreed. “I think I already like this city’s big event over Gallopolis. The weather’s pleasant, there’s no moronic royalty asking for favors, and there’s things I’d actually want to buy! Still, I think we should find our way to the docks before we go on any shopping sprees. Sylvando said it was somewhere around here…”

“Ah! Young lady, with the red hat!” a voice called out. The trio turned to find another vendor near the top of a staircase, a man with red hair and a purple tunic. “Si, si, signorina! You like the good outfit, yes! I have perfect outfit for you!”

Heedless of her own words, Veronica made a curious sound as she stepped up to the merchant’s stall. “Prego, prego! You want a beautiful cat suit, si? I have the most beautiful cat suits in all of Gondolia! Allora, I sell you one for—”

“Hey! Watch…” Serena’s ears picked up the distant sound of Erik’s voice over the rest of her surroundings. She turned in its direction, and found him further down the boardwalk—seemingly in a confrontation with another of those muscled men, this one wearing a peculiar horned helmet.

Apparently, Erik recognized the man—his posture visibly deflated as the man said something and pointed a finger at him—then Erik suddenly let out a scream, before turning on his heel and fleeing down the stairs.

Serena couldn’t help tilting her head in confusion, finding the occurrence entirely strange. What about that man made him so frightening to Erik?

The man with the horned helmet stared after Erik for a few seconds, shrugged, then started down the boardwalk in Serena’s direction. She got a better look at his features then: his muscled build wasn’t very different from any of the other sailors around Gondolia, but he wore a distinctly darker set of clothes. And his face…the lower half was almost entirely covered by his bushy mustache and beard.

In all they looked to be quite intimidating—Serena certainly wouldn’t be surprised with herself if she cried out after running into them unaware. But Erik…she would’ve never expected someone as outwardly roguish as him to be afraid of a person like that. In fact, had they never met, Erik simply hanging about unseemly-looking fellows like them wouldn’t seem out of the ordinary at all.

Serena glanced back at Eleven and Veronica, her sister haggling with the vendor over someone else offering the same cat suit at a cheaper price. They didn’t seem to have noticed Erik’s incident at all. But, noticing occurrences others didn’t was a normal thing for Serena, after all; one of her more peculiar quirks was being able to better pick up things with her senses, mostly sounds and smells and tastes. It brought her a fair bit of trouble, since her mind could easily be carried astray by the tiniest of sounds, and encountering too much at once was quite overwhelming, but there was its share of perks—she’d been trained by the High Priest of Arboria to recognize malicious energy, though that was limited to things that actually used dark magic.

She turned to the bearded man again, who continued down the boardwalk towards the party. Serena expected them to pass them by, but a voice called out a greeting to him as he reached the red lighthouse near the overpass. The helmed man’s demeanor brightened as a Gondolian sailor approached him, and the two men shook each others’ hands heartily.

“Ah, Rodolfo! It is you!” the sailor said. “But…what’s all this with your outfit?”

The bearded man stepped back and proudly placed his hands on his hips. “Ah, they tell me I lack la forza at last year’s competizione, so I look for the new outfit to embody fierceness! The Vikings, the northern raiders…sailors at le osteria say they are the fiercest seamen of them all. Though maybe a little too fierce—I ran into a guy not un minuto ago and scare him right off!”

“Eh? With an outfit il ridicolo like that? Crazy…maybe you at least take the prize this year for most outlandish, si?”

“Haha, maybe so! Better than nothing with Hercules entering again this year…”

The two men disappeared behind the lighthouse as they headed for the overpass, leaving Serena to ponder everything. As she did, Veronica continued to haggle with the merchant, eventually asking to see the costume before Eleven could pay for it.

“Ooooh, shopping a little early now, are we, darlings!” Sylvando’s voice from behind the trio suddenly cut the debate short, and Serena turned to find him at the top of the stairs behind the stall, gesturing downwards. “We can save that for later. The dock’s right around the corner here.” He turned to go, but did a double take when they realized they were missing someone. “Hmmm, but where’s Erik?”

“I’m right here.” Serena and her companions turned to find Erik coming around the corner from the southern steps. As he rejoined the party, she couldn’t see any trace of distress in his features, but Serena did notice a reluctance in his eyes—and when Erik met her gaze, he pointedly averted his.

“Wonderful, everyone’s accounted for. Let’s go see how my baby _Stallion_’s doing. Hopefully Dave’s been keeping her in tip-top shape since I’ve been gone.”

* * *

Several hours and a trip to a distant grotto later, Serena found herself behind Eleven as he heaved open the entrance gates to Gondolia proper—and all the party seemed to share the same astonishment at what awaited them. The sun had began to set by the time they left the Grotta della Fonte with the birdsong nectar, coloring they sky a light shade of purple, but the city’s liveliness certainly seemed to have exceeded its earlier peak. Even with the entry plaza relatively empty as before, the main thoroughfare was nearly filled to the brim with people.

“Gosh, things really got going while we were away, didn’t they?” Serena said.

“Oh, this is just too, too exciting! I can’t wait to see the first contestant take the stage!” Sylvando chimed, clasping his hands with enthusiasm.” He turned to Eleven and Erik. “Alright boys, I want front row seats for this, so let’s get organized. You two go and muscle your way to the front of the crowd and save us a space. Meanwhile, me and the girls will go put a song back into little Placido’s throat! Ooooh, I can’t wait to see his happy little face! Ciao for now!”

Serena glanced back at the two for any hints of protest, but found the Luminary and his partner’s normal placidity. After the episode with Veronica’s staff getting stolen and learning the plight of Doge Rotondo’s son, Erik had said little on their journey other than a complaint about the grotto’s clamminess. He seemed to back to his normal indifference by now, so Serena followed after Sylvando and her sister.

Gondolia’s main street bustled with the din of commerce, shoppers clustered around market stalls and unoccupied vendors doing their best to be otherwise. Despite leaving things to Erik and Eleven, Sylvando wasn’t bad at getting around crowds himself, though he relied more on constantly chiming a “‘scuse me, darlings” to get around instead of muscling his way through. And Serena was certainly glad for it, lest they end up losing Veronica again like she had in one of Gallopolis’s crowds before…

Finding no sign of Placido or Benigno on the main street, they made their way to the northeastern lighthouse where they had encountered the pair before. The trio had a much better time getting around without all the crowds from the stalls, but Placido nor Benigno were nowhere to be found.

Sylvando moved to the railing facing the main street to scan the area. “Placidooo! Honey, where did you go?” he called out. “It’s okay, there’s nothing to be scared of—it’s me, Sylv!”

“Placido _was_ here when we left him, wasn’t he?” Serena asked of her sister, which Veronica answered with a nod. “Where in the world would he run off to?”

They continued to survey their surroundings for a minute, until Veronica eventually pointed down the street and cried out, “Hey, there they are!”

Serena and Sylvando turned to find Benigno and Placido rushing down the boardwalk to meet them, the Doge’s son at a much more hurried pace than his friend. Benigno doubled over to catch his breath as Placido looked at them with visible apprehension.

“Oh, there you two are,” Sylvando said with a sigh. “Well, Placido, I hope you’re ready for the world to hear your sweet voice once again, ‘cause we’ve got a special concoction for you right here! Serena?”

Serena offered the birdsong nectar she had brewed at the grotto to Placido—but the boy didn’t accept it, instead shaking his head and fretfully scampering in place. “Hm? Is something the matter?” she asked.

Placido pointed towards the square, mumbling incoherently as his cursed mouth fruitlessly worked to voice his concerns. The party turned towards the square to see the organizer of Signor Universo speaking to Eleven and Erik at the head of the stage, their posture exuding enthusiasm. Serena was sure Erik wouldn’t like that kind of attention…

She turned back Placido, confused. “Did you want us to present it to you on the stage?”

Placido shook his head. Benigno, finally catching his breath, tapped his friend on the shoulder. “Placido, what is the matter?”

The Doge’s son anxiously paced again and pointed to his throat.

“The curse?” Sylvando asked. “Honey, we’ve got the fix for that right here!”

Another shake of Placido’s head. He crouched, swiping his arms forward as if they were claws and making a vicious face.

“A monster?” Benigno guessed.

Placido vigorously nodded his head and pointed towards the square again.

“A monster on the stage?” Veronica asked, turning. “I don’t see any monsters over there.”  
Placido shook his head again. Now he combined his previous gestures into one, pacing and holding his throat and pointing towards the stage.

Serena’s puzzlement could only grow. “Placido, I think you would need to take the birdsong nectar if you want to—”

“Uh oh…” Veronica suddenly breathed. “Guys! Look! The stage!”

Everyone’s attentions were turned towards the stage, and what Serena saw brought her a twinge of unease—all eyes near on or near the square were drawn to Erik and Eleven, along with a man in white armor standing at the front of the stage. She moved to the railing to get a better look, and when she focused on the knight she could make out his blonde hair and rather sharply handsome features as he raised a fist to his chest.

“…and I, Jasper, knight of Heliodor and trusted retainer of His Majesty, King Carnelian…” He pointed accusingly at Eleven before continuing, “…have come before you to tell you that the very Darkspawn himself is among us!”

“Oh no!” Serena cried. “It’s the Heliodorians!”

“Wait, what?” Sylvando blurted, standing to Veronica’s other side. “What in the world would Heliodor want with Eleven and Erik?”

Something clicked in Serena’s mind, and she turned back to the young boys. “Placido, you weren’t describing any monster—you were talking about that knight on the stage, weren’t you?”

Placido frantically nodded his head. It was quite the peculiar way of referring to that knight, Serena thought, but it was a proper warning.

“Oh gosh, are those soldiers coming for them!?” Sylvando cried. Serena returned her attention to the stage to see knights armored in Heliodorian red and blue move to surround the pair. Eleven stood at the ready, while Erik had a hand on the hilt of his poison moth knife.

“What do we do now!?” Veronica cried.

Sylvando was quick to react, speaking briskly. “Well, the Heliodorians do typically bring a lot of hands, but most of them aren’t exactly the best trained fighters, so the boys should be able to hold their own for a minute or two…” His eyes lit up. “Okay, it’s pretty basic, but I’ve got an idea. Serena, you make your way around to the back of the stage, and wait for a commotion. Me and Ronnie will go and rustle some feathers—and when everyone’s distracted, you go and guide them out of there.” He began rushing down the boardwalk as soon as he finished. “If things get hairy, meet up at the docks!”

Veronica and Serena met each other’s eyes, and seeing no protest in the other’s expression, both nodded at the other. There was little time for arguing now, not when their sacred charge hung in the balance. Her sister dashed off after Sylvando.

Before she took off, Serena crouched down in front of the two boys and proffered the vial of birdsong nectar to Placido. “I’m not sure if you share the same sentiment as the Doge, but I hope you’ll realize that this is one awful misunderstanding,” Serena said. “Try to stay out of trouble, will you?”

Benigno nodded as the Doge’s son accepted the nectar. “Si…I will try to reason with the Doge. Grazie mille, signora, and buona fortuna!”

Serena smiled to show her thanks, then stood up and looked around. The closest path to the square was inconveniently blocked off by a rather poorly-placed merchant stall. She took off in the direction of Veronica and Sylvando, skipping the nearby stairs in favor of the bridge passing over the main street, spotting her companions steadily working their way through the crowd, with all their attention directed at Eleven and Erik fighting off the Heliodorian soldiers.

She crossed the bridge to the western side of town, and when she was halfway up the boardwalk, Sylvando’s voice rung in the air. “Yield? I don’t _think_ so, honey!”

Serena turned to see Sylvando and Veronica standing defiantly at the front of the square, quickly becoming the new center of attention. Sylvando theatrically pointed a finger at the knight in white armor, shouting “You leave my friends alone, or I’m going to have to teach you a lesson!”

Veronica imitated Sylvando’s pose with a “Yeah!” Despite the distance, Serena caught her sister mouthing a low “honey” after her shout, and she couldn’t help a tiny chuckle as she continued onwards. As she maneuvered her way through the people around the western lighthouse, panicked yells and the sputter of flinging fire began to sound off—seems like someone had been foolish enough to have directed an ill remark at her sister.

Serena made it to the rear of the stage without drawing the attention of any soldiers—all of them were focused on the front of the square as Veronica haphazardly threw fireballs at the Heliodorians. The knight in white—Serena remembered he called himself Jasper—wasn’t fazed by Veronica’s display and he waved his soldiers forward. What few that weren’t patting down fires moved to engage Sylvando and her sister, leaving Eleven and Erik unguarded.

Seeing her opportunity, Serena moved as close to the stage as she dared to wave and conspicuously hiss at them. When the boys turned to her, she held a finger to her mouth and said, “This way! Quickly!” Eleven was quick to heed her words, and Erik quickly scanned their surroundings before following after the Luminary.

Serena craned her neck behind them to be sure they weren’t noticed as they ran back along the bridge—but stopped herself from running into a roughneck with a spiked yellow mask as she turned back. Their near collision drew his attention away from the commotion, blocking their passage for a couple precious seconds. “Excuse us, sir, but we’d really appreciate it if—”

Her skin prickled at a surge of dark energy from nearby, and Serena instinctively turned towards its source. On the stage, Jasper briefly held a hand wreathed in a shadowy aura over his head—before launching a blob of black energy directly at them.

“Look out!” Erik yelled. Serena barely saw him leap in front of the ball of darkness before it reached Eleven, and then Erik was crumpled on the ground.

“Erik! No!” Serena cried. She glanced up at Jasper’s voice, yelling at his soldiers to regroup. 

Eleven extended a hand towards his partner, but Erik slapped it away. “What are you doing!? I bought you some time—use it! Get out of here, now!”

Serena heard the urgency in his voice and nodded. Eleven looked as if he wanted to protest, but she quickly took him by the hand, leading him past the roughneck and away from their companion. She spared a glance back as they circled the lighthouse, expecting the soldiers to continue after them—but fortunately, they seemed content to only have Erik in their clutches.

Shame immediately prodded at her, and Serena chided herself for even having such a thought. Poor Erik…first he’d had that harrowing encounter with that man posing as a Viking, and now this… No doubt he’d make it out of this day worse for wear, if he made it out at all.  
She didn’t even want to think about the horrible things the Heliodorians might do to him—and Serena increased her pace with a newfound resolve, wanting to regroup with the others as soon as she could. Even if keeping the Luminary safe was their main goal, Serena didn’t want to leave any of their companions in dire straits, especially for someone as self-sacrificial as Erik.

* * *

Erik gazed out over the _Salty Stallion_’s starboard railing at the horizon, the sun to the side of his vision steadily brightening the early morning gray to orange. This close to the ocean, the sound of it’s roiling shrouded Erik’s quieter thoughts. He could tell he hadn’t been out on a boat in Goddess knows how many months—it used to be that he could tune out the sound of the seas whenever he wanted, but now the ocean’s din gently rapped against his ears.

He’d though that all his bitterness towards his turbulent past would’ve made him hate the sea by now…but in a weird way, being on it again was comforting. Part of his upbringing, Erik figured.

His chest began to throb again, and Erik’s hand went from absently feeling at his arm to where he had taken the dark blob from that Jasper guy. Most of the soreness Erik had in his arms from being tied up had faded away, but the pain from…whatever it was that got thrown at him was a lingering annoyance.

Normally, him having to take a hit from someone else would’ve been the annoyance, but things would’ve been a lot worse if it happened to anyone else. If Eleven got captured they might as well consider the whole saving-the-world thing finished, and no Serena meant they would’ve had a hell of a time trying to keep everyone fighting fit in the middle of a scrap. Better to have a scoundrel like him deal with being trussed up for the umpteenth time than anyone else.

Not like he could complain—Eleven and the rest of the party got more than their fair share of darkness thrown at them when they fought Jasper to save his skin, so Erik probably ended up getting off easy.

A streak of a brighter blue in the distance caught Erik’s eyes, and he the managed to see a few drake slimes and men ‘o wars as the _Stallion_ drifted on the waves. After getting caught in that whole mess, everyone agreed that it was best to sleep the night away once they were a safe distance away from Gondolia. As light a sleeper he was, Erik barely managed an hour or two before waking up, but he was wary of trying again—after running into whoever that Viking was, he wasn’t sure what would await him in his dreams.

He continued leaning on the _Stallion_’s railing for a while, breathing in the salty wind while mulling over what might come next. Sometime after the sun’s upper half began to poke above the waves, Erik’s reverie was broken by the deckhouse’s door opening.

Serena stepped outside, rubbing at her eyes from the morning light. She walked forward distractedly, looking up and around the ship like a fledgling bandit suddenly plopped in a treasure vault for the first time—which it probably was. Not like getting a look around was on anyone’s mind when they had vengeful knights and giant squids to worry about. Eventually Serena noticed him leaning off to the side, and Erik gave her a good morning wave. She came over to his side of the ship.

“Good morning, Erik,” she greeted, still looking around the _Stallion_.

“First time on a ship?” Erik asked.

“Third time, actually,” Serena answered. “First when leaving from Arboria to the mainland, and again to travel to the southwestern continent. If I remember correctly, the ships Veronica and I traveled on were quite different from this one…”

“This baby’s definitely a different breed,” Erik agreed, turning his back on the railing and giving the _Stallion_ another good look. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a ship this size with less than three centered masts, but this thing gets by with just one, all the others are just lug sails. I’m pretty sure I caught some kind of paddle wheels on the backside when we hopped on here too…”

Erik caught Serena’s perplexed look in the corner of his eye, and he trailed off. “…right.” Nobody could ever follow him when he talked about ships, and it wasn’t like he’d wanted all that knowhow about them in the first place. “Anyway, there’s all this decor that Sylvando plastered onto this thing, too…”

Catching onto that, Serena’s expression brightened. “Oh yes, it’s quite something, isn’t it? I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen a ship’s railing being made of solid gold before,” she said, placing a finger on the taffrail.

“It’s not,” Erik said, sliding a hand along the smooth, conspicuously hard railing. “Gold would be softer and a lot heavier than whatever this is. Probably brass or something else polished to look like the real thing.”

Serena chuckled. “You’ve got plenty of experience with that sort of thing, haven’t you?”

Erik scoffed. “Well, you’ve taken a good look at a real gold coin before, right? Anyone who can handle their coin should be able to recognize what real money looks and feels like from a fake.”

“I haven’t…” Serena said, her voice suddenly upset. “To be honest, I don’t think that’s anything that would pass the average person’s mind.”

“I guess…” Did that come off as rude? Erik changed the subject. “Still, I wouldn’t put it past Sylvando to actually decorate this thing like that.”

“Hmhm, I suppose that’s Sylvando for you,” she said, her tone lighthearted again. “Flamboyant, brave, with quite the striking taste in decoration to match.”

“Heh, yeah,” Erik absently agreed.

The exchange trailed off, and Erik kept his eyes on the horizon on the opposite side of the ship. He thought Serena would go back to looking around the ship, but he continued to linger in the corner of his eye, seemingly deliberating about something.

“You know,” she finally began, “you were quite brave yourself today, throwing yourself in harm’s way for Eleven like that.”

Erik wasn’t expecting that. He glanced at Serena, her sheepish smile both genuine and expectant—and he had the sudden urge to scratch behind his head. “Uh, thanks, I guess?” he answered.

His response hung awkwardly for a few seconds. Judging from her slightly diminished grin, that probably wasn’t the answer Serena was looking for, but she seemed to accept it anyway.

Serena breathed an _ahem_ before continuing. “Anyway, I wanted to ask…are you feeling alright, after everything that happened yesterday?”

“Huh? Well, most of the aching I got from having my arms tied up is gone, but there’s still some leftover pain in my chest from whatever it was Jasper threw at us.”

“Oh, I wasn’t exactly referring to that, but I can give you a bit of healing for that if you’d like.”

Erik shook his head. “That’s alright. It’s nothing you need to waste your—”

His pulse suddenly skipped—there was something else? “Wait, what else are you talking about?” he asked. The nervous fuzziness rising in his gut answered before she could even answer.

“Erm, early in the day, shortly after we arrived in Gondolia for the first time,” Serena confirmed. “I could be mistaken, but I’m quite sure I saw you in the distance running away from a rough-looking man. I believe he said he was dressed up as a Viking…”

“Uhhh…” Erik breathed, pointedly averting his gaze from her. That was _not_ how that was supposed to turn out. Nobody was supposed to see him turning tail and running away like that! His nervousness turned to panic as he thought about what story he’d have to make up for everyone—until he noticed what she had said. “Wait, back up. You said he was dressed as a Viking?”

Serena nodded in affirmation.

Erik heaved a sigh of relief. Of _course_ it wasn’t a real Viking. They were terrifying, but they had always been too comfortable in their little bubble up north to venture this far outside. Still, not running into an actual Viking made things a lot better. He paused for a few moments as he thought of what to say.

In the corner of his vision, Erik could see Serena’s head titled and contorted with worry—not unlike how he used to for someone else, long ago. Her concern definitely seemed sincere, but the last thing Erik wanted was to delve into his history more than absolutely necessary.

He took another deep breath. “Yeah, that was me,” Erik forced out. “The Vikings…I’ve had some bad run-ins with them in the past. Really bad.” He kept his eyes on the deck of the ship, not wanting to meet Serena’s or look back at the ocean. Memories flickered in his mind, of toiling away in stifling conditions, of endless hours on the sea laced with savagery, of constantly being battered with resentment. Interlaced with them were warm echoes of bickering and laughter, things Erik wished he could look to for comfort—but every time he tried, they threated to contort himself with guilt.

He saw Serena raise a hand in the corner of his vision. “Oh dear—Erik, I had no idea…”

“Nobody did. Don’t worry about it,” Erik said, talking more to himself that he did Serena—as if it would actually help. He breathed out again and met Serena’s eyes. “Look, you have to swear not to tell any of the others about this, okay?”

Serena nodded, looking down at her clasped hands in that sad way of hers. “Yes, I promised.” Her gaze was insistent as she met his again. “Erik, I’m ever so sorry, I didn’t mean to—”

Erik waved a hand with a flippancy he didn’t feel. “Don’t worry about it, alright? I just…need to be alone for now,” he said, capping his declaration by hurrying to the _Stallion_’s interior.

He wasn’t sure why he had told Serena anything, even if it wasn’t much. As he started down the steps belowdecks, he tried searching his mind for an answer, but came up with nothing. He’d had been with his old partner-in-crime Derk long before he’d met Eleven or the others, but Erik had barely let anything slip about his past to him. Then again, getting attached or even too sentimental with most the people he was around back then hadn’t ever been a good idea in the first place.

More memories pushed their way to the front of Erik’s mind. Among them, an impish girl with the same cyan hair as his, reaching out to him, her face frozen in panic before…

Erik shoved them all down, forcing thoughts about the present into their place. The party finally had a ship. Wherever the heck it was, hopefully they were well on their way to getting their hands on that slippery Rainbough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> you _know_ that goofy part had to be there if things were gonna go to Gondolia.
> 
> Anyway, since you've gotten this far in this fanfic, I'm assuming you're staying for a good amount of the ride—so, welcome aboard! This is where things start picking up and going in a different direction than the original game, so here's a needlessly-long-but-optional list of things to keep in mind while you're reading:
> 
>   * I edit this thing _a lot_, so don't be surprised if your brain gets tickled by a turn of phrase you liked mysteriously disappearing, especially since the day after I post a chapter is when I start finding all the typos, lol.
>   * A handful of locales will be (are?) be bigger in some way, mostly through having houses or inns with the proper amount of rooms to be considered so by today's inflated standards; though some, like Puerto Valor and Arboria, will straight up have extra construction in places, since the former noticeably lacks an actual port in the town and the latter just doesn't have enough beds to house everyone who lives there?
>   * To get around all the weird ways time passes in this videogame, I set up some baseline rules for traveling: on foot is mostly the same, but there's no sprinting or horse/monster riding unless absolutely necessary; and sailing for 1 minute in-game is equal to 3 days.
>   * Most of the game's major mechanics (HP/MP, experience and leveling, the progression of skills in line with a playthrough, interacting with NPCs, monsters, items, forging, outfits) will appear in some way, but pep powers probably won't be seen much, if at all. Part of this is because they're situational and/or spur-of-the-moment things that are cumbersome to properly utilize until you start getting access to pep pips, so I'd forgotten to work them in early on and pretty much ignored them due to that…but also because _that one_ is based on [a thing real Vikings apparently did](https://en.natmus.dk/historical-knowledge/denmark/prehistoric-period-until-1050-ad/the-viking-age/weapons/berserkers/) and will be an important plot point much later on.
>   * The weapons and skills the party uses are based on how I've played through DQXI and tend to manage equipment, which are both a set of specific quirks picked up from playing a lot of old Square Enix RPGs. So, not all the weapons the party uses will be the outright best at any given time, instead what I think is worth keeping over the cost/stat gain ratio of the next weapon in sequence. (really, this fanfic could serve as an vaguely-optimized walkthrough for Act I if you follow along with [a guide](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1C8xEEnVlscaYhqyZWAhyD8qFvf_oS9lo4Wur1FJXr58/edit?usp=sharing), lmao)
>   * There is, surprisingly, a fair bit of subtext running under the surface about a bunch of different things: meditations about the nature of love (and hate, probably?), self-esteem, a very specific neurodivergent trait (which you may or may not have just noticed), the margins of traditional gender expectations…and even some core aspects of Dragon Quest itself. Most of this won't become very apparent until Act II rolls around; and while I'm increasingly starting to believe that subtlety is kinda overrated in this context, the process of getting an English degree has made me unconsciously emulate that kind of storytelling. But, this should at least make things more interesting for a repeat read or people who like to pay attention to this kind of stuff.


	5. Stalks of Zwaardsrust

When Serena made her way to the top of the knoll and lay her eyes on the Zwaardrustian landscape unfurling before her, she let out a delighted gasp as she took in the sight.

Two enormous fields of wheat brightly blanketed the hills, their golden stalks gently swaying in the breeze blowing from the ocean. Spruce trees lined the path the party traveled upon as it wound between the two pastures, receding into the horizon as it curved away from the sea, with the small silhouette of the World Tree Herself solemnly floating above the distant mountains. And the party’s destination to the right of the far meadow was the finishing touch on a perfect picture on the countryside: the Warrior’s Rest Inn, a sizable hostelry with a cozy orange roof and a windmill towering over its fenced yard.

“What a wonderful sight!” Serena proclaimed, condensing all her feelings simply. She had already seen a fair number of picturesque landscapes on her journey so far, but after being on the ocean for nearly three days straight, this one could only be all the more striking.

“I’ll say…” Veronica said, sharing Serena’s awe. “Y’know, as nice as this place seems, I don’t think I would mind coming back for around here for a vacation when this is all over.”

Sylvando’s curious “hm?” drew both sisters’ attention. “Ronnie, you’d want to stay in a quiet region like this? It’s been years since the kingdom was here, but nobody seems to be coming to settle down here anytime soon, so this wouldn’t seem like your type of place at all.”

“Hey, just because I’m so lively doesn’t mean I like to take it slow sometimes,” Veronica said with a wave of her hand. “I’d just love waking up to the clear countryside air, maybe start trying my hand at music again, or toss out a few spells without any troublesome bystanders in the way, or even—” 

“Hey guys!” Erik’s call interrupted their exchange, standing further down the road with Eleven. “I know the scenery’s pretty and all, but it’d be nice to sleep in an actual bed for a change,” he said, pointing towards the inn.

“Oh, quit your blabbering, we’re coming,” Veronica yelled back, trudging down the road after them with Sylvando following behind.

Serena started down the path as well, but stopped as a faint purr from nearby drifted to her ears. She turned her gaze to the nearest wheat field, and saw nothing for a few moments. Eventually her eyes fell upon small patches of orange and red and black standing out from the gold—and when Serena could make out its source, a delighted squeal seemed to leap from her mouth.

A great sabrecub idly peeked out from among the wheat stalks, adorably pawing at its face. Serena’s memory could hark back to one of her favorite romances growing up, the tale of a hero who took the hand of a divine maiden in marriage—but they had also grown up along a sabrecub that eventually became their lifelong partner, and Serena had always desired to see one for herself after experiencing such a heartfelt story.

“Veronica, Veronica, come quickly—it’s one of those cute little sabrecubs!” Serena chimed, bouncing in place. Her exclamation drew the cat’s attention, and it looked directly at Serena with a curious “Meowwrr?”

“Ooh, ooh! I speak a little cat! Meow-meow-meowwwrrr? Meow!” There wasn’t any meaning behind Serena’s cat impression, but the sabrecub seemed to understand her playful tone as it began to frolic among the wheat stalks, rolling onto its side while it tapped its paws together.

She giggled at the innocent display. Apparently, common knowledge had it that fully-grown sabrecats were vicious creatures, but Serena had always found it hard to believe they could ever be dangerous as cubs. She’d also heard that most sabrecubs were loathe to be away from their families unless something sent them astray—so she couldn’t help wondering, wouldn’t this little one’s parent be nearby?

“Serena, _look out!”_

Veronica’s sudden call brought Serena back to awareness—and she found herself tumbling out of the way as an adult sabrecat lunged from the wheat field towards her. The beast’s roar rung in Serena’s ears as she recovered, and she stood to find it glaring right at her, eyes narrowed and fangs bared. Its cry was answered by a gaggle of raucous cawing and whistling, which drew a tomato-colored bite bulb and a pair of brown-feathered hocus chimeras into joining the fray.

By the time Serena had fumbled in drawing her pixie pole, Veronica and the others had engaged the newcomers—but the sabrecat kept it’s focus solely upon her, standing in the middle of the road and cutting her off from her companions.

If only she hadn’t been so foolish! Of course the sabrecub’s parent wouldn’t be far, and seeing their child interacting with an unfamiliar creature would only draw its ire. The beast began to stalk towards Serena, and she instinctively stepped backwards.

Her heart beginning to race, Serena fell onto her first and only method of self-defense. She called upon her magic and thrust her hands forward, summoning a small cyclone to slice at the sabrecat. Her Woosh did little but draw a slight recoil from the beast, and it only grew angrier in response, letting out a snarl as it continued to prowl towards her.

Serena’s fear rose to a panic, and she prepared another Woosh, but the sabrecat lunged at her again. She ceased her spell in time to narrowly avoid its snapping jaws—but it swiped at her as she dodged, slicing at her side. Serena stumbled from the pain as she landed, and the sabrecat took advantage of the situation, rearing around to slash at her again.

Uncertain of what to do and charged by panic, Serena did the next action that came to her—swinging her her little pixie pole, and hitting right on the nose.

The sabrecat suddenly staggered backwards as if it had been struck with an anvil, jerking its face wildly and wailing all the while. Not questioning her fortune, Serena scrambled down the path to where her companions caught the other monsters. The bite bulb began to limply drift to the ground as Serena returned, and she rushed through its dissolving dust as she took stock of the party.

Sylvando and Veronica fought one of the remaining chimeras in tandem, the jester keeping it from where they stood on the path with his rosewhip as her sister lobbed crackling bits of ice its way. In the nearby meadow, Eleven deflected a strike from the other chimera with his steel shield. The bird swayed back with a heavy beat of its wings before preparing to strike again—then Erik was there, scoring a strike on its flank with his knife.

The chimera cawed in pain before twisting and pecking at Erik, but he had already dodged out of its way. Its attention shifted entirely to the thief, wildly jabbing and pecking at him, yet Erik managed duck and bob away from every strike across a few seconds. Somehow he found an opening in its frenzy to retaliate with a quick cut, and the chimera drew back before attacking anew.

Serena turned her attention from Erik’s display as Eleven entered her vision, his broadsword-holding arm drooping slightly as he plodded towards his partner. She called upon her magic once more and sent a healing spell towards the Luminary, then joined her other companions further up the road.

Not a second passed before another roar boomed in the air, and Serena turned to see the sabrecat bounding towards them, angrier than before. Veronica launched a fireball at the beast, but the sabrecat jumped high into the air out of its path. Serena’s heart skipped when she was realized it was aiming for her, and she readied herself to move again—

Her eyes barely caught the faint blue halo that flickered before the beast’s head, and she managed to see its eyes droop before it flopped onto its side. Serena’s fear kept her from realizing Eleven had sent the sabrecat to sleep in midair until she noticed its body’s gentle rise and fall.

Still frozen from the shock of it all, Serena stared at the sabrecat’s limp form until Erik suddenly sprung into her vision, blue tendrils of energy emanating from his knife. He leapt with his upward strike, and the sabrecat flew into the air once more, dissolving into dust before it reached the ground.

* * *

A few short minutes later, Serena and the party had recovered themselves, then made their way to the Warrior’s Rest—and no sooner had they entered the inn and Eleven finished their reservation did Veronica hurriedly escort Serena upstairs. She saw a handful of confused looks from other guests sitting at the table in the fire-lit foyer from her shorter sister’s assertiveness.

They had a room to themselves this time, a first since they had begun traveling with Eleven and Erik a week ago—an unadorned lodging with two beds on the opposite side of a nightstand and a bookshelf in the far corner. Veronica closed the door behind them as they entered, and Serena, knowing what was coming, sat on one of the beds.

Veronica breathed a short sigh as she climbed onto the opposite bed. Her exhalations before a lecture usually hinted at how severe it would be, and Serena could only read a light frustration from this one. She matched it to Veronica’s sightly narrowed eyes and straight mouth as she faced her.

“Serena,” her sister began, “what have we been told about trying to be friendly with monsters again?” The “we” referred to their parents, both of who had given them similar scoldings on more than one occasion.

Serena averted her gaze, reminded of all the times she’d been caught red-handed in the myriad of dessert pantries around Arboria. “That the monsters are not of Yggdrasil, and should never be considered benevolent,” she recited glumly.

“And not just that, we’ve been told by other travelers that sabrecats themselves are incredibly vicious—so why would you try and be chummy with one of them, for crying out loud?”

“Well…” Serena felt her cheeks redden. “You might not remember it very well, but one of my favorite stories when we were younger was about a wandering hero, and one of his companions was a sabrecat he had grown up alongside, so…” She paused and glanced at her sister, whose expression remained unchanged. “…I wanted to see if that story could be true in any particular way?”

Veronica studied her for a moment before sighing again, exasperation apparent in tis one. “Serena, I love you—but you’ve got to remember this is _serious_ now. We might actually _be_ traveling around with a hero, but you can’t expect things to turn out how they do in storybooks.” Her gaze softened. “And we can’t have you leaving everyone to worry when you have another of your distracted slip-ups, okay?”

_But the sabrecub wasn’t vicious at all,_ Serena wished to point out. _It harbored no malicious intent in its heart, just an pure-hearted sense of playfulness and curiosity._ Instead, she went with an “I understand” and a nod.

Her sister accepted her apology with a nod of her own. This was far from the first time Veronica had taken her to the side for one of her needlessly frivolous moments. They had both gotten quite used to them by now, so Serena shouldn’t have found another lecture to be any different. And yet…how vulnerable she had been, left on her own while facing certain danger only left her a lingering uncertainty.

As Serena pondered things, Veronica had remained where she was for a time, but she eventually got down from her bed and headed to the door.

“Veronica…” Serena began, interrupting her sister as she reached for the doorknob. She looked down at her clasped hands resting upon her lap. “Do you…do you ever think that I’m…helpless in fighting, sometimes?”

“Helpless?” Veronica repeated. “Why would you ever feel like that? You figured out the trick to that instant death spell the elder showed you before we left, right?”

Serena nodded in affirmation.

“And you’ve still been practicing to improve your wind magic, haven’t you?”

“Yes, but…my wind spells have been only marginally useful, and that dreadful Whack spell seems to come down to chance more than anything…” Voicing her concerns only deepened Serena’s dejection, and she sniffed as she felt a tear welling up in her eye.

She didn’t notice Veronica’s approach until she found her sister’s smaller hands atop her own, and when Serena met her eyes, she saw the boldness shining behind them. “Look, Serena, you don’t have to worry about being helpless in any battles, alright? Remember, it’s not like we’ve could gotten this far without your healing skills, and that’s not going to change anytime soon. Eleven and Sylvando and even that kook Erik are already handy enough fighters—and I’ll always be there ready to burn anything that comes your way into a pile of charcoal.” Veronica finished her speech with a grin, wide and confident and slightly mischievous.

Serena couldn’t help but smile at her sister’s reassurance, and she nodded at Veronica through her sniffling. Seeing her brightened spirits, Veronica chuckled before heading back towards the door. “Now, I’m going to see if there’s anything good to eat in this place. I’m sure anything made from that wheat they’ve got out there is bound to be delicious. You coming?”

“That’s alright,” Serena answered, shaking her head. “I’ll have a look myself later.”

Veronica closed the door behind her as she left, leaving Serena alone with her thoughts. Afternoon daylight streamed through the uncovered windows lining the walls, and yet the room felt darker without her sister’s presence.

She certainly was right that she didn’t have to worry about protecting herself when surrounded by her comrades, but Serena still couldn’t dispel her unease. Her companions had all been preoccupied with the other monsters that appeared at the sabrecat’s roar—and if it weren’t for her lucky strike, the beast would have undoubtedly torn her apart. What would she do if things came to another dire situation? Blow a feeble wind at her enemy, or tempt fortune with a spell she could barely grasp?

The anxiety began to gnaw at Serena, and she needed relief. She pulled out her lyre and began to play a tune.

* * *

Holding up his latest weapon to the candlelight, Erik leaned back in his chair as he admired his handiwork. After taking off the strands of chimera and sabrecat fur, the blade of his poison moth knife—a jagged piece of work with conspicuously serrated edges—had been polished to a shine.

He always tried to make sure his tools were clean whenever he had enough downtime. It did plenty of good for him back in his thieving days, when a scheme could go south quick when they were pressed for time and someone was running around with a rusty lockpick or other. After that one episode with Derk and some other fools in that lesser-known mountain pass to the Champs Sauvage…well, Erik never trusted anyone but himself with the lockpicking after that.

Erik placed his clean poison moth knife on the table and unsheathed his personal dagger, a run-of-the-mill blade with a simple crossguard. By then, he’d forgotten where he’d picked it up—it was a common kind that could be bought in most weapon shops around the world, but as far as Erik knew he’d been holding onto this one since he started wandering on his own, even when he started picking up fancier knives once he’d started traveling around with Eleven.

Though it wasn’t like he didn’t have any clue as to why, even if he hadn’t been too sentimental about how his last one had crumbled until recently.

A muffled, grating twang rang out, interrupting Erik’s thoughts. He looked up at the closed door at the edge of the common room he sat in. Veronica had come out of there shortly after he’d sat down, and she’d hurried her sister upstairs as soon as the gang checked in; so no doubt Serena was in there with her harp. Nothing but silence emitted from behind the door for a few seconds, until the sound of Serena’s music began to drift outside once more.

Erik’s mind had pushed what she was playing to the background before, but his now disrupted thoughts let him fully listen in. He probably knew the least about music in their little band, but he definitely remembered the songs she’d played on the _Stallion_ stringing together multiple notes in each second. Her tune this time seemed to be made of individual sounds, each strum hanging in the air for barely a moment before the next.

Getting feelings from what little art he’d experienced tended to be completely lost on Erik, but he could definitely feel something from what Serena played now. It was sad overall, but…there was a calm there too.

Listening to Serena’s song, Erik returned to inspecting his dagger. More than a few days had passed since he’d last drawn it, and he could see a few faint spots of rust on its steel. Erik grabbed a cloth he’d borrowed from the inkeep and started polishing. Taking care of his gear was something that calmed him down too, but sometimes his mind would get away from him, treading down lanes he didn’t want to go. Erik hadn’t noticed it before, but focusing on the sound of Serena’s harp managed to keep his thoughts in check.

And Goddess knows, that was something he desperately needed now. The one or two times Erik had slept since Gondolia, his dreams had been assaulted with visions of past misfortune under the Vikings. After finding a reason to dig them all up, it seemed like his head reveled in replaying his bad memories over and over and over again.

A couple minutes of polishing his knife passed in peace, before he heard another loud twang from the sister’s room. Its door opened shortly after, and Serena stepped outside, her head bowed. Erik could see a hint of sullenness behind the eyes of her otherwise placid expression—which meant whatever she and Veronica had talked about must have shaken her.

“Nice harp playing,” Erik said, and Serena started as she noticed him sitting at the table.

“Hello, Erik…” she said sheepishly. “Erm, I actually play a lyre instead of a harp, you know.”

“Really?”

“Mmhmm,” Serena nodded. “Harps tend to be much bigger string instruments, about as tall as any of us if not larger.”

“Oh.” Unsure of what else to say, Erik went back to his dagger, trying to rub out a particularly persistent spot of rust.

In the corner of his vision Erik saw Serena turned to go down the hallway—but she paused after a single step. She stood there for a few seconds, seemingly deliberating about something, and a twinge of nervousness began to pull at Erik over what she might ask.

“Erik…” Serena began, turning back to him. “How did you learn how to fight like you do?”

“What?” he answered, surprise dissolving his nerves. “What do you mean, ‘like I do?’”

Serena approached the table, but didn’t sit down. “Well, I know you’ve been getting better at trying to coordinate with everyone but—”

“Wait a sec,” Erik interrupted, “what’s this about me getting better at coordinating?”

Serena momentarily averted her gaze. “Veronica had always complained to me that you weren’t very cooperative when you’d hit a monster whenever she had them fuddled—but now that you’ve learned how to perform those blue-infused strikes, she’s quieted down about that.”

What else was he supposed to do when a monster was confused? Stupid Veronica. He’d probably grill her for that later. “Sorry. Go on.”

She looked down at her clasped hands before continuing. “Anyway, I had always thought you seemed…independent, whenever we fought monsters. Like, if you ever found yourself in an awkward situation against a single monster, you would be able to handle it on your own without much trouble. I was wondering…” She met his gaze, her expression resolute. “Would you be able to teach me how to do that, somehow?”

Erik’s brow seemed to furrow in its own at her question, another oddity asking him to consider things he hadn’t before. He mulled it over for a few seconds, before shaking his head. “I’ve never really thought much about how I fight, honestly. Don’t know how well I could teach it to anyone else outside of giving them a few pointers with a dagger, or maybe a boomerang.”

“Oh…” Serena said, her posture deflating with her voice.

“What are you asking for, anyway?”

She faltered before answering. “It’s just…after that battle earlier, I feel like I should be able to help with the actual fighting more than I am now.”

“What for?” Erik asked, careful to keep his tone soft. “The rest of us have got the fighting down packed—and plus, you’re by far the best healer in the gang. Why wouldn’t you want to focus on just that?”

Serena shook her head again, her gaze becoming flustered as it fell to her hands again, and Erik felt a pulse of worry. Having to rely on others for protection was obviously eating at her, but she didn’t want to say why. He wasn’t one to pry if someone had things they wanted to hide—he definitely had plenty of his own secrets—but he knew enough about her predicament to not want to leave her deflated as she was then.

Erik let out a sigh, scratching behind his head as he thought of what to say. His gaze fell to his dagger, and his thoughts fell back to his thieving days, when he almost always ended up being the best scrapper on a job…but that was only because of the who he’d learned from before.

“Look, Serena,” he began, “I can’t really tell you how I learned to fight, but I can say this: I had to, out of a need to be stronger for myself. No one else, just me. It’s probably selfish to say that with how we’re supposed to have each other’s backs now…but if worse comes to worse, you might have to fend only for yourself someday. And I guess if you’ve learned how to look out for number one like I have, you’ll be okay. Maybe you can use that to help yourself, too.”

He didn’t know if his words would help, or if they even made sense—but when he looked back he found a contemplative Serena, her spirits seemingly lifting a little as she considered his speech.

“I’m not sure if I can…but I’ll try.” She smiled softly at him. “Thank you, Erik.”

Unsure of what else to say, Erik simply smiled in return, holding her gaze for a few seconds.

Erik nearly jumped from his chair as loud cheering and clapping arose from downstairs, startling Serena as well. Sylvando’s voice echoed upwards seconds later. “Thank you, darlings, thank you! I hope everyone enjoyed this little fireside performance from your pal Sylvando! I love you all!” Steps began to rattle up the stairs soon after, then the jester came bounding into a common room, a quartet of kitchen knives gently tucked between the fingers of both hands.

Sylvando emitted an “oooh!” as he noticed Erik at the table with his daggers. “Erik honey, you know what would’ve made that juggling show even more impressive? Balancing that barbed knife of yours with all my usual ones! Whew, the people down there would have loved it.” His attention shifted to Serena. “Oh, and Serena, you’ve got to get down to the dining room. The little pancakes they’ve got down there are just to die for! I think the lady called them ‘poffer jets,’ or something. Anyway, do you two happen to know where the other room El booked is?”

Serena had recovered from her astonishment enough to point down the hallway behind Erik. Beaming, Sylvando replied with a “Thanks Serena!” before prancing away. Erik slumped into his chair with an annoyed groan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you've got XI S, go into a fight with any of the sabrecat family, change the battle mode to freeform fighting, and walk towards Serena for a fun little message. For whatever reason, this and a handful of the other characters' quirky battle quotes just don't automatically appear in classic mode at all?
> 
> [ Shoutouts to rittajp on Youtube for inspiring Serena's song in this chapter.](https://youtu.be/gqtsnefKzqw)


	6. Octagonian Overturning

Fancy mask and draw number in hand in his hand, Erik and the others watched as Eleven headed down the curving corridor towards Octagonia’s arena. Right as they arrived, some bunny girl back at the entrance to this oversized fort had handed them a poster for a goofy-sounding “Masked Martial Arts” tournament—but seeing the grand prize was enough to make El’s entry an instant shoe-in.

Finally, after crisscrossing half the world just to find the thing, the party’s eyes finally lay upon the prize. The Rainbough stood on display within a glass case to the side of the registration desk, a branch about as long as Erik’s arm that—true to its name—shone with all the colors of the rainbow. 

“Well, I guess that’s that,” Erik said as Eleven disappeared around the bend. El was easily the best man for the job with how ridiculously well-rounded he was: their best with a sword and shield, his Luminary powers let him toss lightning bolts and people and use other offensive spells decently, along with some healing magic to boot. If there was anyone who would do any good in a fighting tournament, it was him. “Guess we better find our way up there so we can see who he gets lumped with,” Erik said, turning to the others. Veronica and Sylvando nodded at him, but Serena’s gaze was still focused upon the registration desk.

“Eleven might be able to get the Rainbough, but isn’t that another one of those spheres being offered as the second prize?” she questioned, pointing towards the other side of the registration desk.

Erik followed her gesture to the runner-up prize on display: a glowing yellow ball. He had only glanced at the consolation prize before, but taking a closer look, Erik inhaled sharply when he realized the golden light within the sphere pulsated just like the red one he had stashed away. “It is. It’s another Orb.”

“What’s this about orbs?” Sylvando asked.

Erik turned towards the jester. “El and I—,” pausing to consider his words among bystanders, “…obtained another sphere that looks close to that one a while back, and we’ve been hanging onto it ever since. It could just be a coincidence that there’s another one with a different color, but I’m not so sure now that another’s being offered as a prize.”

“Matching orbs, eh?” Sylvando pondered, raising a hand to his chin. “Could just be a one-of-a-kind pair of precious gemstones.”

Serena tilted her head in thought. “Hmmm… Now that I think about it, I believe I have seen a set of gems like those before, in one of my old textbooks back home in Arboria. I can’t seem to remember what they were described as…”

“Well, I can barely remember anything I read in our studies, but if you think you’ve seen them in one of those dusty old tomes, it’s got to be important,” Veronica confirmed.

“Yes, but, it looks like there’s only one prize each for first and second place, so if Eleven does win the tournament, we’ll miss out on this other Orb,” Serena pointed out.

“You’re right,” Erik agreed. “Not sure what we can do about that, then…” He _could_ probably find some way to snatch it from under the organizer’s noses, but Erik had a niggling feeling that getting up to no good in a town full of hungry fighters probably wasn’t the best idea.

The party collectively stood in thought for a few seconds, until Veronica’s chuckle drew everyone’s attention. “Well…” she began, looking at Erik and Sylvando with a shrewd glint in her eyes, “if there’s only one prize for each, then I guess we’d better make sure someone’s in each place to claim them for us, shouldn’t we?”

Sylvando gasped delightedly as he looked towards the registration desk, and Erik realized what Veronica meant a second later. “Are you serious? Do we really need to get more than one of us caught up in this thing?”

Veronica’s smirk immediately flipped. “What’s the matter? Afraid of getting your butt kicked for everyone to see?”

“I could care less about the fighting as much as all the eyes that will be on us!” Erik said, gesturing at the people mingling around the reception. “Do I have to remind you of what happened in Gondolia? There’s an huge statue of Hendrik sitting above us, for Goddess’s sake!”

“We got away from there, didn’t we?” Veronica shook her head before jabbing a finger at him. “Look, you just said that two closely matching orbs wasn’t a coincidence, didn’t you? Well, this might just be the only chance we get at this one, and I’d rather us not have to go on any more wild goose chases if some idiot ends up running off with another glowing artifact we end up needing.”

“Well, if you’re so worried about it, why don’t you enter this dumb thing yourself?”

“Are you blind? Do you think I’d stand any sort of chance with this?” Veronica retorted, sweeping her hands down her child-sized body. “Believe me, I’d love to prove to these people that magic beats brawn any day of the week, but I’d be ground to a pulp the moment some brute gets their hands on me! And there’s no way I’d enter a thing like this without Serena as my partner, which obviously isn’t going to happen with this stupid draw.”

Erik let out an aggravated groan. Veronica did have a point that she was at a pretty significant disadvantage with how frail she was, but did anyone care that the Heliodorians were still on their heels? Every single town they’d visited so far had led to someone becoming needlessly popular, and if Eleven actually won the thing then word would spread for miles around.

Sylvando’s voice drifted to Erik’s ears, and he glanced at the registration desk to find the jester scrutinizing a simple red masquerade mask that the clerk held. Sylvando waved the mask away, saying something about it being “too tacky,” and the receptionist went back under the desk. Erik had reminded Sylvando about how much attention he drew to the party in public too many times by then, but his gadabout tendencies were just impossible to keep down. At this point, Sylvando’s shenanigans were more likely to get them in trouble than anything.

Erik turned back towards the sisters, passing over Veronica’s sharp stare to find Serena staring at him intently, her eyes widening into mild surprise for a moment before she began to speak.

“Erik, Eleven might be skilled, but there’s still a chance that he could be eliminated in the early rounds, and we’d lose out on both the Rainbough and the other Orb,” Serena pointed out. “If you and Sylvando enter along with him, we’ll stand a much better chance at coming away with both of them.”

Her words gave Erik pause. He thought back to their conversation the day before at the Warrior’s Rest, where Serena seemed to put a lot of stock in his fighting skills. She hadn’t said much about her predicament in the handful of times they ran into monsters on the way to Octagonia, but he had noticed her eyes on him in those fights a lot more than usual. Still, Serena’s point was a lot more convincing than her sister’s…

Finally relenting, Erik sighed as he scratched behind his head. “Fine, I’ll enter,” he conceded, ignoring Veronica’s self-satisfied laugh as he headed towards the registration desk. Sylvando had finished with the clerk and was standing to the side of the desk, holding up a strange colorful mask with forward-dangling strands. The jester looked at his mask with adoration, as if it were the prize for winning the entire tournament.

As Erik approached, the red haired clerk clasped his hands and flashed an enterprising look. “I don’t think I’ve seen you here before, either. Here to enter the tournament? You look like you could handle yourself in a brawl pretty well.”

_It’s that obvious, huh?_ Erik simply replied with a curt “yeah.”

“Awesome!” The receptionist reached under the desk, pulling out a slip of paper and a quill pen. “Just sign whatever you’d like to be called up here and I’ll get you your draw number and mask.”

“Oooh, stepping up to prove your skill too, Erik?” Sylvando asked.

“Not really,” Erik replied as he took the quill and paper. “Someone’s gotta make sure we get our hands on that orb.” _And give Serena a decent demonstration, I guess,_ he added silently. As he begun to scribble down his name, he could feel Sylvando’s gaze over his shoulder.

“Come on, Erik honey, you can’t just enter with your own name! Can’t you feel the mystery and intrigue that are just oozing from these masks? You’ve got to have some kind of stage name!”

Erik’s head drooped towards the table. “Does it really matter?”

“Actually,” the clerk interjected from under the desk, “it’s MMA tradition for entrants to enter with some kind of nickname. You’d be pretty out of place to not have one.”

Erik groaned, scratching out his name. He’d gone by a few nicknames before, but those were all given to him by his thieving pals, and thinking about them always made him cringe. But since they wanted one so much… Erik shuffled them around in his head, picking out a couple of words and putting them together before writing it down. He stifled a sigh as he offered his paper to the clerk.

“Hey, that’s a good one,” Sylvando said. “It’s because of your hair and how sharp you are at—”

“Shhhh!” Erik hissed, not wanting anyone to catch wind of his tendencies.

The clerk rose, holding a simple silver mask and a maroon draw number slip in his hand. Erik traded his entry paper for the mask and draw number, and the clerk scanned Erik’s name. “The ‘Prickly Pincher,’ huh? Pretty cool,” he said, glancing up at Erik’s hair. “Anyway, congrats on being the last contestant to sign up for this year’s tournament! Things will be starting very soon, so you’d best make your way to the lift down the hall to your right. Good luck!”

* * *

A ride in a huge, clanking metal dome and a long-winded partner draw later, Erik was headed back through the hallways he had come up from, wedged within the flock of other competitors leaving the arena. Conversational chatter reverberated throughout the cramped space as the surrounding fighters talked with their partners about strategy or returning fighters.

For a tournament that was supposed to have random pairings, some of them were pretty suspect—Erik could spot a duo of provocatively dressed girls in pink between the mage and roughneck walking directly in front of him. It was odd the first time around when that old guy cut in after Eleven got paired with some girl in a purple mask, but Erik had a hard time believing that some of these matches were made at random.

His partner came strictly down to chance, unfortunately enough. Walking alongside him was Liu Za, a hawkish-looking guy dressed in a martial arts uniform with his black hair in a braid. His face was completely impassive, his eyes shut tight and his mouth frozen in a hard line. Unlike most of the other pairings, the guy hadn’t bothered to stand beside him after they had been matched together, and he hadn’t said anything to Erik outside of a simple greeting as they were leaving the arena. Getting the cold shoulder was nothing new to Erik, but it seemed pretty odd to not want to talk with the person half your shot at winning a competition leaned on…

“So…” Erik began. “This your first time entering this thing?”

“No,” Liu Za bluntly replied. He didn’t bother to elaborate.

Erik scratched behind his head. “Okay…any hard-hitters we should be looking out for?”

“Concerning oneself with the opponent’s strength is a surefire path to defeat.” They turned a corner in the hallway, and Liu Za went around it as if his eyes were wide open. 

“Well, wouldn’t it be a good idea to at least tell me who’s entered this thing before so that I get some kind of idea what we might be up against?”

Liu Za sighed, opening his eyes. “Look, I’ve had a string of bad losses lately, and I’d rather not get hung up on strong fighters, alright? Maintaining my focus for these takes some serious meditation, and thinking about strategy before we need to is going to disrupt that.”

And with that, the martial artist shut his eyes once again, his features slightly scrunched in annoyance.

Erik let out a deep groan, desperately wishing that he had gotten paired with El as they reached the steps going down to the waiting room.

* * *

Serena added her voice to the cheers surrounding her as Eleven landed a sword strike on the Abominable Showman, hopping back before their sluggish retaliation. As the Luminary landed, Vince charged at their opponent with a yell, and a downward slash with his claws was enough to send the Showman reeling before they collapsed onto the stage’s floor.

The disparate yells of the crowd merged into a roar, and Serena could hear the ardent whoops from Veronica beside her over the clamor as Eleven sheathed his sword. Their companion seemed to have a bit of trouble coordinating with Vince at the fight’s onset, but Eleven seemed to manage despite the unfamiliarity between them, even keying his partner into the…quite obnoxious maneuver their opponents performed in the middle of the match.

Octagonia’s referee rushed to the center of the arena and swept outwards with both arms. “That’s it! It’s all over! Vince has done it again!”

“What!?” Veronica’s peeved outburst cut through the clamor ringing in Serena’s ears. “Was that referee even paying attention to the fight? Eleven was fighting just as well as his partner, probably even better! A carrot could probably tell what actual skill looked like better than that referee!”

“Come now, Veronica,” Serena said, raising her voice to be heard over the crowd, “You can’t expect Eleven to suddenly be the favorite over Octagonia’s supposed hometown hero, you know.”

“I know, I know…” Veronica groaned, turning away abashedly for a moment. When her gaze returned to the center of the arena, Veronica’s mouth curled in satisfaction. “Well, at least that stupid lout who walked into me yesterday got what he deserved.”

Serena turned back to the stage to find Underdigger and the Showman being carried out of the arena on a stretcher. Meanwhile, Eleven and his partner basked in the adoration of their victory, Vince waving as he surveyed the surrounding crowds.

_Better that Veronica’s animosity towards that fellow be resolved like this instead of her being involved in it herself,_ Serena thought. She was uncertain who would come on top if their confrontation yesterday came down to fighting, but Serena was fairly certain that the Underdigger would have suffered worse injuries than today…

Eleven and Vince stepped down the raised staging to depart, the latter still waving to the crowd as he exited. Their clamor calmed down as the referee became the center of attention.

“Alright, folks, I hope you enjoyed the straight-shooting of that last bout, ‘cause the next one’s gonna be anyone’s guess! A whole three of the four fighters in this match are fresh faces to the MMA circuit!” The referee raised a hand towards one side of the arena. “Our first team is MMA regular Liu Za and his new partner—the Prickly Pincher!”

The crowd’s cheers rose once again as the first team appeared from the entryway and walked up the stairs to the stage. Liu Za was a martial artist wielding a pair of iron claws, and his partner trailing behind him was—

“Erik?” Serena said, recognizing the thief trailing behind his teammate towards the center of the arena. From her front row position in the stands, Serena could make out the reluctance in Erik’s eyes obscured by his plain silver mask.

Veronica suddenly burst out in laugher. “The ‘Prickly Pincher?’ That’s got to be the corniest nickname I’ve ever heard!” she managed between her chortles.

Contrary to her sister’s amusement, the name made perfect sense to Serena, but the fluttering rising in her gut again did not. Her well-being wasn’t at risk, and yet the morning had left Serena with a lingering nervousness leading up to Eleven’s first match. It had disappeared after Eleven had gained the advantage in their battle, but now that Erik was on the stage so quickly after their friend, Serena’s anxiety had returned as if nothing happened. Still, this would probably be a good opportunity to watch without any interruption…

The referee raised his other hand to that side of the arena. “And their opponents will be the enigmatic newcomers to Octagonia—give it up for Rab and Jade!”

Serena heard her sister’s puzzlement as quite the odd pairing passed under the entryway, an older gentleman wearing a traveler’s backpack and a much younger woman. The man was stout and dressed in bright colors, the red of his fez contrasting the blue and white raven-like mask covering his face. The woman walking alongside him seemed to be very much in her prime—tall and lithe and dressed in a light green, her long dark ponytail trailed behind her as she walked. The girl in particular—Serena concluded she was the one called Jade—walked in a dignified manner, the eyes behind her purple butterfly mask seeming to deem the contest she was participating in a mere trifle.

As Jade and Rab made their way up their respective stairs, Serena saw Erik’s partner lean towards him and speak, both of their expressions visibly souring. Erik had mentioned a “lopsided pairing” that had been arranged at dinner the evening before, leading Serena to guess that his opponents were the ones he spoke of. She couldn’t make out Liu Za’s words, but Erik inclined his head towards Rab and Liu Za nodded in response.

Rab and Jade reached their spot across from Erik and Liu Za. Without looking at each other, Jade spoke a few words to her partner, who Serena could see say a single word before placing his hands behind his back.

Veronica eagerly leaned forward on the parapet, eyes narrowed as she scrutinized Erik’s opponents. “Those two seem like they know what they’re doing. This should be interesting…”

By now, the crowd’s volume had steadily lowered, the audience unsure of what unfamiliar competitors to cheer for. Anticipation hung over the arena without the crowd’s clamor to dissipate it, agitating Serena’s nerves.

The referee between the two teams took stock of each, then took a few steps backwards before raising a hand. Erik brandished his dagger, his personal one in favor of his poison moth knife as Liu Za took a fighting stance. 

“Alright folks,” the referee began. “On your marks…” 

Jade raised one of her legs and angled a hand before her face. 

“Get set…”

Rab held his straight-backed pose.

“…and _fight!”_

Jade leapt forward the moment the word left the referee’s throat, her leg leaving a blur as she aimed a twirling kick at her opponents. Erik and Liu Za both halted their charge to dodge out of her path, but Erik stumbled upon his landing. Jade was quick to capitalize as she recovered, rising from her crouch with a roundhouse kick for Erik to block.

“Come on, Erik!” Serena cheered. Before she could shout more encouragement, Serena stifled her next phrase as she saw Liu Za rushing towards Rab, who still held the same position. 

_Is that older gentleman simply going to stand there!?_ she thought, fear spiking within her despite the older gentleman’s obstruction to the party’s goal. Liu Za closed the distance between his quarry and slashed with this claws.

Rab’s body suddenly snapped into action, deftly stepping out of the claws’ arc. Serena’s momentary surprise matched that on the martial artist’s face before he swung again. Rab dodged Liu Za’s next strike just as easily and all others that followed, weaving through the martial artist’s slashes like a leaf carried by the wind.

Eventually Liu Za tried a different tactic, feinting a strike from above with one claw before quickly swinging another from below. Rab nearly stepped directly into the blow, but his hand quickly whipped up to deflect Liu Za’s strike, giving the older man an opening to circle behind his opponent. Liu Za recovered and slashed in an about face, but in an astonishingly spry display, Rab backflipped halfway across the arena away from the martial artist. Unscathed through the entire ordeal, Rab began to stroll away towards the other fighters.

Serena returned her attention to Erik, who was entirely focused on Jade. As soon as her companion had avoiding one strike, another one was always oncoming, her kicks alternating between high blows and low sweeps with no letup. Rab passed by Erik and Jade, giving them a wide berth before he returned to his previous composure at the edge of the stage.

Noticing her partner, Jade suddenly relented in her assault, bounding away from Erik’s retaliating stab from towards Rab. Jade took on a casual pose as she landed, apparently sizing up her opponents as they regrouped. The interlude returned Serena’s senses to herself, enough for her to notice the pounding of her heart echoing in her ears over the raucous clamor of Veronica and the crowd around her. 

Liu Za and Erik stared after their opponents for a few moments before turning to meet the other’s gaze. A silent exchange seemed to pass between them, and both nodded curtly before charging directly at Jade.

Erik went at her from the front, lashing out at Jade as Liu Za circled around them. Jade parried one strike of Erik’s dagger and dodged another before retaliating, blocking his slash with one leg before quickly following up with another, causing Erik to stumble.

Liu Za bounded in the air behind Jade, but she was ready, lunging under his swipe at her head and kicking behind herself while rising. The martial artist cried out as his trajectory completely changed, drawing a wince from Serena as Liu Za arced away from Jade and landed on the ground in a heap.

Both fighters stared after the downed martial artist as the crowd’s cheering rose for the first knockout of the round. Jade and Erik returned their attention to each other after a few moments, and the thief charged at his opponent with renewed vigor. Erik swung and stabbed at Jade, but his sluggish strikes gave her ample time to match each one with a kick of her own. Eventually she returned to the offensive, dealing out a string of strong sweeps that forced Erik to stagger backwards.

Erik seemed to be completely stumped by Jade. Every single attack had been blown away by Jade without even a flinch, and Serena could tell he had barely kept up with her initial flurry at the opening of the round. 

The thief eventually glanced towards Rab, who had watched the entire exchange without moving a muscle. Rab inclined his head towards Erik for some reason, and Serena saw the thief’s eyes narrow behind his silver mask.

Jade appeared behind Erik within that interval, casually tapping him on the shoulder and speaking. The only word Serena could recognize was “easy” before Erik swung his dagger. Jade crouched under his slash with ease, and her feet rose before the rest of her body as she performed a swift backflipping kick that took Erik square in the jaw. He rose in the air and fell, landing hard on his back, while the warrior maiden gracefully landed on her feet.

The referee extended a hand decisively towards the unconscious Erik before declaring Rab and Jade the winners—and just like that, the fight was over. The crowd roared its approval, with many of the cheers surrounding Serena in adoration of Jade’s dominance.

“What in Yggdrasil’s name was _that_ fiasco?!” Veronica yelled, her hands clenching the low parapet she leaned against. “Barely a minute passed before both of those idiots went down in a single kick!”

“Yes…” Serena absently said, her mind still trying to wrap around the entire ordeal. The ease with which Erik’s opponents had thwarted their efforts was astonishing. She had thought that all the experience Erik apparently had would make things easy for him, but the impeccable movements of Rab and Jade completely overturned that. Ironically, while they certainly didn’t dress the part, both Rab and Jade’s skills in martial arts had to be well above that of Liu Za.

Serena returned her attention to the stage as the pair were departing, walking in the exact same fashion as they entered—but looking closely, she could see that Rab walked with the same confident stride as Jade, rather obscured by their contrasting builds. Given the visible age difference between the two, and how Rab handled himself in the fight, Jade must have learned how to carry herself in her dignified manner and her fighting prowess from her older companion. But where could they have learned to do all of that?

_Most certainly an enigmatic pair indeed,_ Serena thought as they disappeared through the entryway. Turning back towards the stage, she felt a pang of regret as a pair of roughneck medics loaded a crumpled Liu Za onto a stretcher between them. They approached Erik with the same intent—but much to Serena’s surprise, her companion managed to sit himself up to wave the medics away. She breathed a deep sigh of relief as Erik staggered to his feet before slowly shuffling off the stage towards the arena’s exit.

“Hey, wait a minute. ‘Liu Za…’” Veronica said, realization dawning in her voice. “Doesn’t that sound like—who in the world goes around with name like that?!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> truly, Dragon Quest pun names are the pinnacle of humor.
> 
> It's also rather funny how this series is obviously supposed to be medieval fantasy, yet Octagonia apparently has working electricity with neon signs around and a whole elevator that nobody ever bothers to question.


	7. Lament of Dundrasil

Erik ran.

His breathing was deep and ragged. His heart threatened to burst from his chest with each beat. His feet could barely register the craggy ground as they propelled him forward. He could feel his body growing exhausted with each step. He had been running for so long, but somehow he knew if he stopped, he was dead.

A faint red light lit his path from behind, tinting his otherwise pitch-black cavernous surroundings with bloodied half-shadows. Small clusters of thin rock columns blurred in his vision like fangs as he passed them by. Only one thought rushed through his mind: _keep running._

But wait. The stalagmites and walls of this tunnel were smooth and dry, the gap between them wide enough for barely three people to run side by side. Erik had been through this cave recently. Still running, he stole a glance behind himself, expecting to see a black dragon trailing behind him. 

He couldn’t help the terrified scream that wrenched from his throat.

A horde of Vikings tore through the cave after him, dressed in tattered clothes and brandishing axes with missing blades and swords with jagged ends. Some of their leather helms were worn and missing horns, and the bushes of hair framing some of their faces were wild tangles. And their eyes—twin pairs of deep crimson shone where their eyes should be, the wildness within them horrifying despite his familiarity.

Erik tore his eyes away from his predators, willing himself to go faster. His legs complied, and the ambiance receded from his surroundings for a few seconds, but it soon began to inch forward, illuminating the cave in crimson even more. Over the ringing in his ears, Erik could eventually hear the sounds coming from the mob behind him: the tromps of their boots against the cavern floor, the screeches of their weapons scraping against the walls, their snarls and cries for blood. His blood.

_Keep running! Don’t look back!_

The stomps grew louder, and the light began to fully illuminate his surroundings. The cave, Erik’s breaths, his gloved hands as they flailed in front of him—their color was suffused by a frenzied crimson. Eventually he could hear the sound of steel whizzing in the air as the foremost Vikings began to flail their broken weapons at him.

His strength running low, Erik was ready to let the Vikings just take him…until he saw a smudge of purple in the distance, its dark hue standing out from the bright red. He begged his body for one more burst of speed and it mercifully delivered, gradually carrying him away from the frenzied Vikings and their light.

Within a few seconds, the purple saturated as it merged with gray, and Erik could make out the opening of an intimately familiar wooden doorway. Another fear sprung up within him, of facing the recollections that lay behind its walls, but the terror at his past tormentors overshadowed his anxiety. He pushed on. 

Erik barreled through the doorway to his old shelter, turning around to see the way he came. He had managed to outrun the Vikings and their red glow, but he could barely make out and hear their screeching closing in as they continued to charge up the corridor.

He slammed the door and stumbled back, knowing that the simple wood wouldn’t stop a horde of frenzied Vikings. Erik trained his ears on the door, keenly listening for their cries before they smashed the door to splinters—but after a few agonizingly long seconds, nobody came.

Erik released a sigh with a relief he was far from feeling. Still breathing heavily, he surveyed the hovel of a shelter. A deep, murky darkness permeated the cave, broken by a eerie purple ray of light shining at its center. There, a familiar golden-plated statue stood.

He inched forward one step at a time, glancing around the cave with paranoia for any horrors nestled within its crevices. The only sounds Erik heard were the shuffling of his feet and his heart echoing in his ears, but the emptiness constantly tugged on his nerves.

Reaching the purple ray uninterrupted, mild surprise overwrote Erik’s fear as he found the statue exactly as he left it five years ago. A solid puddle of gold still covered the surrounding ground. Her scarf and long braid trailed behind her scrawny form as it desperately reached out. Her eyes and mouth were still wide open in distress, staring out into the space behind Erik. She was still encased entirely in glimmering yellow, skin and clothes and all.

Everything…except for the cause. Dangling from under her vest and scarf was the cursed necklace, an assortment of rubies encased within a flower-shaped pendant and all the links joining them together.

Thinking of that necklace always brought Erik a pulse of shame, for what he had let it do to her. But seeing it now…he couldn’t feel anything, save the lingering fear from his shadowy surroundings. Unsure of what else to do, Erik hesitantly reached out for the pendant.

A red light shone from the corner of the room, and Erik’s gaze immediately snapped in that direction. Standing within the corner was that huge stem—Erik knew it to be an Yggdrasil root now—and the light radiated from behind the leaves and roots encircling it. He warily approached the root and pulled a leaf to the side. Erik felt a chill as he looked upon the Red Orb, held within the Yggdrasil root in place of a clear sphere.

A familiar voice began to echo within Erik’s head.

_Hey, when were you going to show me how to get around the hideout into town?_

_Come on, lazybones, we’ve gotta go before they find us._

_Okay, and how is that supposed to matter? Toughen up, you softie._

_You jerk, you can’t just leave me here like this!_

The interval between voices shortened.

_And what do you expect me to do with—_

_Word is that it’s a—_

_Just you—_

They melded into one, an incomprehensible tangle of sentences swirling within his mind. Their noise became deafening, and Erik’s head began to pound at the intensity. He fell to his knees, clenching his head and begging for something, someone, _anything_ to come and end this guilt-ridden cacophony.

_What are you do—carried away—Sniflheimer—I didn’t wa—big brother—Yeah, wh—despera—noth—you—I won’t—from th—Godde—star—luc—gold—need—ge—PerfectI’llalittlegoldsmallhowcouldhelpworkgoldandyoucan’tgoldstupidkeepersorbnecklacegold—_

“E…rik…”

He gasped that voice’s clarity. It didn’t come from his thoughts.

The voices ceased repeating in his head. Erik opened his eyes to find the slate gray ground washed in gold and tinged with a bright purple. The gold came from his left, the Orb in the root having changed from red. He angled his head towards the purple light, where the statue stood. 

“Mia…?” Erik whispered.

The same sinister light from five years ago shone from the pendant, and the spatter of gold at Mia’s feet had begun to creep outwards. 

Erik scrambled to his feet, staggering backwards to the wall as the gold spread faster. He could hear the chinking as it got spread closer. It reached his feet, and Erik closed his eyes, waiting for the metal to seep up his his skin.

“Erik…”

He opened his eyes again, his appearance was unchanged. When he looked around, he saw the rest of the cave was completely covered in gold: the floor, their makeshift living space, their little garden in the corner—everything.

“Mia?” Erik repeated, his voice echoing off his gleaming surroundings. The purple light still emanated from her pendant, but only from its center. He took a hesitant step towards Mia’s statue.

“Erik?” He could hear the distress in her voice, and he discarded his fear, crossing the gold-plated cave towards her statue in a heartbeat.

“Mia, are you still in there?” Erik asked. He lay a hand on the cool face of her statue. “I’m here.”

“Erik…” the statue replied, it’s voice turning cold. “You…did this to me.”

It was a statement, an accusation. Erik’s heart fell, and he took his hand from the statue. “No.”

The clinking of coins began to echo in Erik’s ears.

“_You_ did this to me,” Mia’s statue repeated. “And you _left_ me.”

The shelter transformed around him.

Jingling rang as the gold-plated hovel immediately changed into a mass of gold coins. The world behind the coins was surreal and void, with a swirling mass of purples hues that distorted each other, darkening to black as it reached the horizon.

Erik screamed as he found himself in midair, then suddenly falling backwards along with Mia’s statue. A heavy jangle of coins sounded as his back landed on something hard, a sea of coins stretching endlessly into the distance. 

He wrenched his head up from his fall to find Mia’s statue still standing up atop the pile of coins. Erik had only a moment to take in his surroundings until he began to _sink_, the golden pile beginning to surge and swell around him. He could only yell a single cry of Mia’s name before they engulfed him.

Erik fought against the coins’ movement. His struggle only served to pull him further under. He could feel the coins press against him, then begin to seep their way inside through his nose, his ears, his mouth. The weight of the coins began to crush him, and yet only one thought echoed through his mind.

“_Mia!_” Erik screamed, his body suddenly jerking upwards. Instead of gold, his vision was met a pale brown fabric. He was back in the party’s tent.

Erik stared at the tent’s canvas in a daze. His skin crawled, and his breathing was rapid and heaving. He raised a shaky hand to his forehead, feeling the dampness there as he slumped forward.

It was the first time Erik had slept since they had left Zwaardsrust. The dreams before had been tame, just reminiscences of bad memories with the Vikings that he could just barely stomach revisiting. But this nightmare, with his captors in their frenzy, the surreal landscape, and Mia’s accusation…it was all just too much for him.

Her voice began to echo in his ears once more, and Erik whimpered. He shot up to his feet and reached for the tent flap.

* * *

“Alright then…” Veronica said thoughtfully, sharing a hay pile with Serena. The conversation around the campfire had shifted to discussing hypothetical matchups for the MMA tournament.“What about the Beaty Queens, and whatever that roughneck and mage girl called themselves?”

“You mean ‘Zap Woosh Pow’?” Sylvando clarified. “Those two were knocked out the fight before the Bullion Boys went up against El and Vince,” he said, deliberately ignoring his MMA mask hiding his face. “I don’t know… those Beaty Queens are some seasoned fighters, but Zap Woosh Pow had some pretty good coordination for a random pairing.”

“Och, that’s the Beaty Queen’s game by a long shot,” Rab interjected with a smirk. The old king of Dundrasil shared a pile of logs with Eleven in front of the fire. “Ye should’ve seen that lass during the draw—she was practically drooling when she saw those pink ladies step up to the stage. Yer average lad and even an auld man like me’d probably stop at swooning, but that girl was fitting to go up there and give both of them a kiss!”

“I wouldn’t take his word about the swooning part,” Jade chimed in, crouching by the fire and stirring the soup pot hanging above. “Rab may be in his twilight years, but I’ve traveled with him long enough to know that he’d probably be up there too.”

There was a seriousness in Jade’s tone, yet Rab began to guffaw at her words, drawing laughs in turn from Serena and the others. Jade’s voice wasn’t among them, but Serena could see the beginning of a smile on her face.

It was so nice to have a chance to unwind after such a turbulent few days, after all that business with that dreadful spider and Eleven and Jade’s disappearance the evening before. The newest additions had joined their merry band just that afternoon, but it didn’t take them long to fall into friendliness with everyone; especially after all the time they spent lingering around Dundrasil.

Eleven had made directly for his birthplace after his grandfather had run off with their prizes instead of exploring as usual, but he had plenty of time to satisfy his wanderlust with the Heliodorians’ departure. Rab had demonstrated his sharp memory as they explored the ruins, taking the time to describe each and every building as they were back during Dundrasil’s time.

And quite a few revelations had been revealed with him and Jade as well. Not only was he royalty, but it turned out that Jade was as well, the long-lost princess of Heliodor, believed to have perished the night of Dundrasil’s destruction sixteen years ago. The Orbs were key to granting them access to Yggrdrasil, and the party was fortunate enough to already have two of the six in their possession! And it seemed that Eleven’s misfortunes that began at King Carnelian’s hand weren’t of his own will, but instead the machinations of the Dark One—an awful entity apparently named Mordegon—and by reaching the heart of the World Tree, they would be able to awakening a slumbering power that would be key to vanquishing the darkness.

But for now, none of that mattered. Serena still couldn’t shake the gloominess that came with yesterday evening’s events, but everyone’s spirits were high. Veronica and Sylvando and Jade were enthralled by Rab’s stories, and he even managed to get the normally placid Eleven to laugh along once or twice. It had been some time since the party had set up camp and enjoyed such jubilant times, and Serena was more than content to just sit back and watch.

“…but how in the world did _you two_ get special treatment in that tournament?” Veronica asked of Rab and Jade. “Some of the others were fan favorites, but nobody even knew who you guys were!” 

“Ah, that was a favor I called in with the mayor of Octagonia.” Rab said. “Me and auld Chance go way back, long before any of ye were even born. Och, that chap had many a good idea to strum up coin. Did ye know he was the one who turned the MMA into the spectacle it is today? The masks were interesting for a time when the last mayor added those, but the same people were still winning every year!

“But Chance, he knew that the good people of Octagonia wanted a _show_, so he implemented the random draw, and _poof_—”

“_Mia!_” A muffled yell interrupted Rab’s speech, drawing a collective start from Serena and the others. Its intensity hung over the party, and for a time the only thing could be heard was the crackling of the fire.

Sylvando broke the silence moments later. “What in the world was that?”

“It came from inside the tent,” Jade said, standing up. “Didn’t someone set it up to go to sleep early?” 

“Yeah, Erik did.” Veronica confirmed. “He didn’t say why, though.”

All eyes turned towards their tent, standing beside the Goddess statue near the riverbank. Only silence came from within for a few seconds, but Serena heard a frantic shuffling inside before the tent flap was thrown open.

Erik stepped outside, looking as if he had gone through a horrible ordeal. His clothes were completely unmarred, but Serena could see Erik’s chest rise and fall to his ragged breathing. His furrowed brow glistened with sweat, and the rest of his face was scrunched with worry as well.

His eyes darted around the campfire frantically, as if searching for threats hiding in the shadows. Veronica asked Erik a question, but his eyes passed over Serena’s sister before falling directly on her. Panic was apparent within his eyes as they held each other’s gaze for that moment, yet Serena thought she could see a sort of grief hiding behind it.

She opened her mouth to say something, but Erik suddenly bolted away from the campfire, fleeing up the nearby slope going upriver.

A stunned silence hung around the campfire as the party stared after their companion. Rab was the next one to break it. “Ah, is that a normal occurrence for our blue-haired pal there?”

There was a collective of no’s and shaking of heads. Sylvando looked after Erik, worriedly holding up a hand. “Should someone go check up on him?”

Serena found herself standing up from her hay pile at Sylvando’s question. “I’ll go,” she declared, taking off after Erik before anyone could object. She remembered seeing a small patch of faerie fluff further upriver that was relatively free of monsters while the party was exploring earlier in the day. Daytime-dormant golems and horknights stalked the darkness, so Serena kept close to the riverside trees and boulders as she went.

The rocky riverbank rose as Serena followed it, eventually standing more than a dozen feet over the water until the ridge gave way to a rugged rock face. She found Erik there standing atop the moonlit ridge, facing the numerous waterfalls cascading from the opposing cliff into the river. 

Serena slowed her run when the ridge became smooth, eventually stopping at where rock met soil around a dozen steps away. Erik didn’t turn at her approach. No wonder he chose this spot—even from her distance, the rumble of the falling waters echoed over Serena’s thoughts—and given Erik’s hunched shoulders and tilted head, they were only causing him distress.

Serena breathed out, raising a hand to her chest. “Erik,” she called out. “Is everything alright?”

Erik craned his head at her for the barest of glances before turning back towards the river. “I…I’m fine,” he breathed. “Serena, I really need to be alone right now.”

She paused. A part of Serena wanted to heed his request, but Serena knew that things would get worse if she left Erik to field to his thoughts on his own like this. But what else could she say?

She thought back to his outburst in the tent. It was a scream of a single word, like a cry for something dear that was lost to him. It didn’t sound like a word she had ever heard before, though. 

But, some indiscernible feeling quickly raised a possible answer within Serena’s mind, and she took a hesitant step forward. “I’ll leave, but…Erik, who is Mia?”

Erik’s posture seemed to stiffen even more. “She’s…nobody important,” Erik replied, his voice growing flustered. “Just… drop it, okay?” He shook his head before adding, “Please.”

_She?_ He had never said anything about a girl in his past before. Was it a slip-up in his memory, or an old companion he had lost? Oddly, her pulse skipped at the latter idea, but with her question answered, she heeded his words and turned to go.

And yet, when she had taken a single step, something pulled at Serena to turn back to Erik. She could see his body’s rise and fall with his breathing, sometimes quivering as he sniffled in the cold night air, and she thought she could make out tears falling before him.

Seeing him in this state softened her heart, and Serena knew she just couldn’t leave Erik like he was. She began to speak as she approached him. “Erik, I don’t know what your ordeal is, or if it’s related to the Vikings or not, but I can tell this is causing a great deal of pain for you.” Serena stopped when she was behind him and gently placed a hand on his shoulder. “I’m right here if you need to tell someone, and I won’t—”

Her heart lurched as she felt Erik’s shoulder jerk backwards, his elbow hitting her chest and shoving her away from him. He rounded on her then, balling his hands into fists. “I said I was _fine_, okay!” Erik snapped. “I don’t need anyone hounding me about my business, so just _go away!”_

Serena stumbled back at Erik’s sudden hostility. His face was fixed into a scowl, but his frown was halfhearted, and his tearful eyes were narrowed in distress.

The shock caused something to break in Serena, and she felt tears begin to form in her eyes as well. She could hear Erik say something, but she couldn’t process what it was, already headed back the way she came. She ran along the river then rounded a cluster of trees growing around a large boulder, finding a break between the rocky bank to where the ground directly sloped into the river.

Serena cupped her face and cried into her hands, tears dripping through her fingers to join the water as it flowed downstream. She wasn’t sure what to feel at Erik’s outburst. Certainly she was dismayed at the surprise of it, and yet…a profound disappointment seemed to linger underneath. She had known his memories was a delicate affair from their short exchange after Gondolia, but she never would’ve expected him to lash out at her attempt to help him. What could be so painful about his past that compelled him to be so hostile to her?

And yet, as she contemplated his reaction, Serena couldn’t hep but chide herself for her own. Erik was rather unseemly, but they had been companions for long enough that she knew he was loathe to intentionally hurt any of them—and she was almost sure he had tried to apologize. So, why would she suddenly abandon her attempt to console him? Was she not strong-willed enough to know her friends meant her no harm?

The expression Erik held when he screamed at her was still vivid in her mind. It looked as if a vehement anger and grieving sadness were clashing on his face, with the latter taking precedence. For whatever reason, Serena thought she could feel a similar turmoil within her—but what could her sadness be clashing with?

She continued to cry for a while, waiting for her tears to finish welling up. She wiped her sleeve over her eyes as they dried, then turned her gaze back up the river. Erik was still on the ridge, now sitting instead of standing. She briefly considered going back, but when shame poked at her, she decided against it, heading down the back towards the campsite.

Jade was handing out bowls of the evening’s dinner as Serena returned, a simple beef-and-onions soup the warrior princess had cooked. Relief was visible on hers and the others’ expressions Serena entered the light of the fire.

“Well?” Veronica asked as she circled around to their hay pile. “Is everything okay with Erik?”

Serena nodded, but said nothing. Jade gestured for her to come get her dinner, and she complied.

“Did he say why he ran away like he did?” Jade asked.

“He…” Serena considered her words as she accepted the bowl of soup. “He said he’d had a nightmare, and it left him feeling too on edge. He wanted to calm himself down, so he went upriver, but he wants to be left alone for now.

“Oh dear…” Sylvando breathed. “Well…our Erik’s a tough old case, so he’ll probably sort himself out.”

_No…_ Serena thought, returning to her spot beside Veronica. _No, he won’t._


	8. Fledgling Valor

“Monsters coming aboard the ship!”

Serena’s head snapped up at Dave’s shout, and she turned her gaze to the _Stallion_’s main deck, where four scaly blue mermen swarmed over the railing, with a trio of drake slimes flitting onto the ship just behind them.

“Aw, and here I thought all our errand running would be monster-free,” said Sylvando from the ship’s helm, lacking his usual pre-battle peppiness. He craned his neck upwards, yelling “Dave, the wheel’s all yours!” before flipping down from the upper deck.

Serena tore her focus away from her tome of hymns, gently placing it on the stairs she sat upon before drawing her jolly brolly. Even if she was still troubled about not being able to protect herself, she still had to make sure she was improving her mending skills. Serena made her way towards the trio of Sylvando and Eleven and Rab already on deck engaging the invaders, and before long Erik and Veronica entered the fray from belowdecks.

Jade was last to join the battle—Serena saw the princess rubbing her eyes as she emerged into the sunlight. This time, she carried her glaive, a red-hafted polearm about as long as Serena was tall with a blade that curved to a point. Jade yawned, gripping her weapon with both hands before rushing forward and leaping right into the fight. She cut down a merman focused on Erik, drawing a petulant “Hey!” from the thief before moving onto a nearby drake slime.

With the entire party assembled, it was an easy battle. Everyone save Rab and Jade had plenty of experience with their attackers from their long trips across the inland sea, but the boys were still getting used to coordinating with the newest party members. Though the royals’ skills mostly rendered that moot, Jade especially—her glaive made her even more of a force to be reckoned with, nimbly moving and sweeping her polearm at the surrounding monsters as she maneuvered among them.

Serena found Jade’s display enthralling, but her attention snapped to a cry of pain from Sylvando. From her place behind Veronica and Eleven, she spotted a stumbling Sylvando with a hand at his side as he recoiled back from a merman. Serena instinctively called upon her magic to send a healing spell his way, and—

Bright green sparkles swirled around Sylvando, and he stood up straight once more. Serena followed the jester’s appreciative eyes to Rab, who flashed a friendly look at Sylvando before avoiding a gout of flame from a nearby drake slime. She let out a disappointed sigh, and turned her attention back to the unfolding battle; and after a couple short minutes, two mermen were all that remained, cordoned off by Eleven’s shield and Jade’s brandished glaive near the left railing.

“Okay, you fishy fools,” Veronica began, clenching her staff with both hands. “Hope you all like ending up on tonight’s menu!” The gem within her wizard's staff flashed a bright orange, and twins walls of fire—larger than any Veronica had summoned before—surrounded the monsters before engulfing them. Their leftover dust merged into the cinders and were carried away by the ocean wind.

“Aha!” Veronica exclaimed in triumph, pumping a fist. “I finally got it! Everyone, you’ve just witnessed the first of many more Sizzles from your resident mage extraordinaire!”

Serena looked away. She wanted to be happy for her sister, but all she felt was a lingering frustration. Not because of Veronica, but how strange the process of learning new techniques was. Even if one wasn’t working towards a specific spell or ability, the heat of battle energized the mind, enough for it to somehow perfect new skills in the process. Serena had experienced quite a few epiphanies on their journey so far, giving her a grasp on spells she hadn’t studied much before along with improving on what she knew before they set out. But could she still learn as quickly as Veronica if she didn’t get as many chances to participate in battle?

_Maybe if she were as slow as me, then things would be fairer,_ said a voice in the back of Serena’s mind.

Serena shook her head, frustration giving way to shame. She and her sister were two halves of the great sage Serenica, and Arboria’s elders always said it was vital that there be no room for pettiness in their sisterhood. Serena had taken that to heart, and though her naturally calm demeanor made it easy for her to keep her anger in check, she knew that she wasn’t immune to jealousy. She would not let that awful feeling take root in her heart now.

Footsteps echoed toward Serena, and she looked up to find Erik coming down the deck, his face slightly angled away from her. He said nothing as he passed by, but their eyes locked for a moment and he paused. Erik opened his mouth to say something, but he suddenly looked away before hurrying towards the upper deck.

Serena head drooped with the falling of her heart, and she stared at her lowered wand. Erik had said nothing to her over the two days since they had left Dundrasil, save a few pleasantries. He had revealed little of his turbulent emotions since then. Before, Serena would have thought he was fine, but she knew that Erik was consciously hiding away his problems, only for them to grow and fester. She wanted to help him, but he was deliberately avoiding her. She wanted to respect his decision, but she couldn’t help but feel upset with every terse exchange and every diverted glance.

“Serena?” She turned to see Veronica separate from the others mingling around the deck, looking at her with concern. “Is something wrong?”

Nervousness rose within Serena, and she placed her hands behind her back. “Erm…nothing.”

Veronica frowned, placing a hand on her hip before sighing. “Serena…” Her staff audibly clicked against the wood as she walked past her towards the deckhouse. “Come on,” she said flatly, opening the door and gesturing Serena towards her.

* * *

Serena followed her sister to the cabin they now shared with Jade at the ship’s stern, a narrow room with four alcoves for sleeping along the walls and a window at the far end. Veronica sat them down on her bed to the left of the window. “Tell me what’s wrong.”

Panic overtook Serena’s nerves as she searched her mind for something to say. Her first thought was to be honest with Veronica and tell her of her feelings from the earlier battle. 

“I…” Serena glanced at Veronica looking up at her in the corner of her vision. Her sister’s eyes were half lidded, staring at her with a kindliness not unlike their mother had when she needed to soothe their worries. Seeing that, Serena just couldn’t think of the right thing to say. She couldn’t ruin her sister’s concern by telling her of her silly envy.

Her mind latched onto the next best thing—but Serena regretted the words before they even left her mouth. “Erik—he screamed at me back at Dundrasil.”

“He did _what!?_” Serena flinched from Veronica’s outburst, her yell reverberating in the confines of the alcove.

Veronica leapt from the bed with vigor. “I _knew_ something was wrong with how you came back to camp that night!” she groaned. Her hands balled into fists, and she stomped towards the door. “When I get my hands on that scoundrel, I’ll—”

“No!” Serena cried, shooting to her feet.

Veronica froze and turned back towards Serena, her expression livid. “Why not!?”

Serena looked down, raising a hand to her chest as she thought back. The torrent of emotions raging on Erik’s face was still vivid in her memory. “Erik wasn’t in his right mind that evening, Veronica. He was recovering from a nightmare, one that was deeply troubling him.”

Her crestfallen tone seemed to placate her sister. Veronica’s mouth remained a frown, but her eyes softened and she unclenched her hands. “Tell me what happened.”

So Serena did, starting with her trip up the riverbank, then of finding him near the waterfalls. She told her of his frustrated body language, her attempt to console him, how he lashed out at her afterwards, and her fleeing and crying afterwards. Reluctantly, Serena told Veronica of how this wasn’t the first time that he had acted strangely. Veronica paced before her the entire time, pausing when Serena mentioned Erik striking her but continuing when she clarified it was unintentional.

When she finished, Veronica stood for a moment with her arms crossed, her feet tapping the floor impatiently. “So,” she began, turning to face Serena, “you said this isn’t the first time he’s done something like this?”

Serena nodded a yes.

“Well, has he ever said anything about why?”

“He has, but…” Serena paused. There were no secrets between them, and it had been that way throughout their lives—but her promise of secrecy to Erik a week ago felt more pressing.

“But what?”

Serena shook her head before looking away. “I can’t tell you.” 

“What? Why not?!”

“I promised him I wouldn’t tell anyone else about his past.”

“Excuse me?” The petulance was apparent in Veronica’s voice. 

Serena took a deep breath, steeling herself for her next words. “Veronica, Erik’s past is a volatile thing. I don’t know why he’s so sensitive to us knowing of it, but if more of us begin to question him about it, he’ll only grow more troubled than he is now.” Serena met her sister’s gaze. “I want to help him, Veronica, but that means you have to keep quiet about this.”

Veronica’s frown deepened as Serena finished her spiel. She held her sister’s gaze, and for a long few seconds she feared her sister would stubbornly brush off her assertion.

Finally, Veronica expression softened, and she reluctantly sighed before closing her eyes. “Fine.”

Serena breathed out in relief, but it wavered a moment later as her sister’s gaze snapped back to her. “But,” Veronica began, raising a finger, “if I catch wind of him doing _anything_ like that to you again, I swear on Yggdrasil’s boughs, I will _throttle_ him.”

* * *

Serena felt the cool night wind brush her skin, carrying the smell of saltwater to her nose as it weaved through the trees of the Costa Valor. She remembered the first time her nose had picked up the scent when she and Veronica had initially embarked on their journey, and the delight that she felt at seeing the great expanse of the ocean for the first time. Unexpectedly, that wonder managed to persist for quite a while—she experienced it again when they traveled from Heliodor to Gallopolis, and once more when she had seen the clear waters of Puerto Valor. Now, Serena could only feel somber at the smell of the ocean.

The party’s conversation at the campfire that evening was a short one, undoubtedly because of the exhaustion most of them felt from traveling back and forth along the inland sea for the entire day, since the requests Eleven had taken on in Puerto Valor involved a fair bit of sailing around. Serena thought they would stay the evening in town, but Sylvando’s insistence combined with the costliness of the posh inn by the casino and the lack of a hot dinner at the other convinced them to simply camp the night away.

Which Serena was fine with, since the smell of the ocean permeated the town. It only stood to remind Serena of difficulties on the journey: Erik’s capture at Gondolia, her helplessness at Zwaardsrust—even during her faltering at the peninsula in the Gallopolitan desert, she could pick up a faint scent of saltwater from far below them. As silly as it sounded, a part of Serena could only deem the smell of the ocean as a reminder of her inadequacy.

She wanted today to be the last time she ever felt like that.

Erik sat at the campfire across from Rab, finishing up the meal of red snapper he had cooked for them tonight. He had given Serena her portion of fish without a word, again. His silence still hurt, but she found herself slightly relieved to see Erik keeping himself busy outside of battles. Veronica and Sylvando had set the party’s tent and gone to bed, while Eleven worked the forge in the corner of the campsite as usual. 

She turned herself back around, placing a hand on the tree she was leaning upon. Serena peeked around it into the small clearing before her where Jade trained with her glaive. The princess’s spear was a blur in the air surrounding air as she spun, deftly swinging it around her neck and arms, then swapping hands without skipping a beat. Then, Jade shifted to a series of thrusts, striking out at an invisible opponent before twirling her glaive in a parry and riposte. 

Serena suddenly remembered a quote from an old book on martial artists, how weapon duelists strove to wield their weapons as an extension of their own body. As she continued to watch Jade’s drill, Serena was increasingly convinced that the warrior maiden had reached that point. 

Eventually, Jade raised her glaive before her in a sort of guard, her body relaxing slightly as she closed her eyes and breathed out. Serena thought that she was finished with her training, but Jade continued to hold her stance, her chest visibly rising and falling as she took a series of deep breaths. 

Her awe dispelled at Jade’s pause, Serena stepped from behind the tree and into the light of the clearing. “Erm, Jade?”

Jade’s eyes opened and snapped towards Serena, the cold intensity within causing her to start, but they softened immediately as Jade recognized her. “Oh, hello Serena. I didn’t mean to startle you there.”

Serena tried to ignore Jade’s comment. “I’ve never seen someone so learned with polearms before,” she said. “How in the world did you learn to use them like that?”

“I’m mostly self-taught,” Jade responded, lowering her glaive. “I’ve gotten a few pointers from Rab about what to focus on here and there; but since his size doesn’t lend well to spears, I’ve had to develop things on my own.”

“Well, It looks like you’ve done quite a good job teaching yourself.”

Jade’s eyes grew distant. “I may be good, but there’s still plenty for me to learn.” She placed her staff on the ground and leaned on it, her tone becoming conversational. “So, what brings you over here to watch one of my training sessions? Did you want to talk about something?”

“Sort of,” Serena said. It was rather funny how her desire had stemmed from watching Erik fight and had changed to this after he was defeated at Octagonia, but Serena felt little joy at the affair. “Jade, I’d like you to teach me how to wield a spear.”

Surprise was visible on Jade’s face. “Really?”

Serena nodded decisively.

Jade began to study Serena then, raising a hand to her chin and looking her over. Suddenly Serena felt as if she could be seen right through, and she averted her gaze from the princess’s seemingly probing eyes. She waited for the inevitable “Why?” to be raised, to ask why someone like Serena would want to learn anything that didn’t have to do with healing others.

After a few seconds, Jade broke their silence with a different question. “Have you ever used a spear before?”

Serena blinked at Jade in disbelief for a few moments. “Oh! Well…I got a little bit of training following an old book on polearms before Veronica and I set out on our journey, but other than that, nothing.”

“Do you have a spear of your own?”

“I _had_ one, but Eleven ended up selling it.” Serena felt her cheeks redden. “Now that I think about it, I never had much of an opportunity to use it, which is probably why ended up doing so…”

“For some reason, that doesn’t seem very surprising,” Jade said with a chuckle. “Well, the balance on my glaive is different from your average spear or lance, but it shouldn’t matter too much for now.” She stepped across the clearing towards Serena.

Serena was surprised at her straightforwardness. “Um, are we beginning to train now?”

“Why wouldn’t we?”

Serena raised a hand to her cheek, feeling silly about her presumption. “To be honest, I couldn’t help but think that you would ask why I would want to learn how to wield an actual weapon.”

Jade shook her head and shrugged. “You sounded completely were sure of yourself when you asked, so there wasn’t any reason to question it. I can see the eagerness in your eyes, anyway.”

“Really?”

Jade nodded. “I know you might be worried at trying something that might be beyond you, but that doesn’t mean you can’t cultivate any sort of skill at it,” she said, smiling softy. “I didn’t expect to be as capable as I am at martial arts before…everything that happened, but here I am now. And plus, Rab always said that he learned a lot from teaching me, so I’m sure we’ll both learn more than a few things from this arrangement.” Jade proffered her glaive to Serena. “Shall we get started?”

Serena nodded and accepted the glaive. She was immediately surprised at how different Jade’s weapon felt from Veronica’s staff or even her old lance. She was certain that the lance was about a head taller than what she wielded now, yet Jade’s glaive was noticeably heavier than she expected.

“How does it feel?” Jade asked.

Serena slid a hand down the glaive’s smooth hardwood haft, feeling it grow weightier as it approached the curved blade. “It’s…heavier than I thought it would be. It’s a wonder you can swing it so effortlessly.”

“The wider blade adds a lot of extra weight compared to your average spear, so there’s metal embedded within the pommel to balance it out,” Jade explained. “We’ll have to get Eleven to forge a proper one for you later,” she said, waving a hand. “Now, show me your battle stance.”

Serena searched her memory for what little she remembered from that old book. She angled her body sideways, holding the spear out before her and angled slightly towads the ground.

Jade looked her up and down. “Not bad. Looks like whatever you had learned before gave you a solid foundation, but there’s still a few things to improve on.” She crossed her arms before continuing. “You might already know this, but having a proper stance is a cornerstone of fighting. We’re likely to face powerful opponents that will barely give us a chance to maintain it, but being able to stand properly will serve you well against your average monster.

“Your handle on the glaive is good, but we need to work on your legs first. Try to imitate my stance.” Jade placed her feet wide apart and bent her knees slightly, not quite crouching but not standing either. Serena followed suit.

Jade straightened and looked her over, humming thoughtfully. “It’s a little hard to see with your dress, but I can tell your knees are in a good spot.” She pointed a finger at Serena’s feet. “Your feet are too far apart, though. If you stand with too much space between your feet, you risk tripping your own self up. Bring them together, and we’ll try again.”

She fell into her half-crouch stance, and Serena touched her feet together. Serena took a moment to study Jade’s, and gradually shuffled her feet outwards for a second before looking back at the princess.

Jade smiled and nodded at her. “Very nice. We’ll have to get you to hold that stance for long periods of time until you get the proper muscle memory, but I want to see what else you can do. Let’s move onto some basic thrusts.”

* * *

Erik steadily craned his neck upwards as the Valor-Sauvage channel grew larger and larger in the _Stallion_’s approach. Despite crossing into Erdrea’s inland sea for the first time so long ago, this was his first time he’d ever seen the gates this close. The only time he had came through, he was stowed away in the hold of a merchant ship headed to Heliodor, barely able to catch a glimpse of the sun save for what pinpricks of light poked through peepholes. He had promised himself back then that he would never set out onto the open seas again.

And now, five years later, here he was, inching closer and closer to those familiar waters. Fate—or the Seer, or whoever was running the show behind the scenes—was a strange thing.

But he was going out with a new purpose now. Once they had all those Orbs, Erik and the party would be able to reach Yggdrasil, and El would get the power to beat the darkness. Erik still couldn’t shake how naive his hopes felt, but maybe—just maybe—that power could help him help Mia, like the Seer said.

And when that finally happened?

Forgiveness.

Erik removed himself from the tangle of his thoughts, returning his attention to the present. He leaned on the starboard railing of the main deck as the rest of the party mingled about; Rab speaking to El and Jade as Sylvando hovered nearby, nervously tapping a finger against his chin. Sylv had been noticeably on edge since they had reached the Costa Valor, but his usual cheeriness had returned a little.

Serena and Veronica stood a few feet away from Erik, the former looking up at the white stone bridge with wonder. Based on what she had told Erik before, this was far from her first time passing through the channel, yet she still gaped at the gate like a khalamari kid. It was endearing enough for Erik to want to smile, but it felt wrong for him to do so.

Outside of a handful of short exchanges, they hadn’t spoken since he had broken down at Dundrasil. And how could he? She knew more than enough about his past, and there was no way it wasn’t going to surface in any of their conversations again. He wanted to apologize, but delving into those memories—voluntary or not—was too much to bear, and Erik didn’t want to make any promises just to end up hurting her again.

But it was obvious now—every time Erik kept quiet, he could see the hurt on her face. And seeing her downcast expression just bounced some of that hurt right back to him.

Erik sighed. He wasn’t sure what was more painful at this point: fielding with his memories on his own or keeping them under wraps from his companions. Too bad the last time he’d even had a chance to tell anyone else, it’d only ended badly—except now, he was the one causing the bad endings.

A screeching jolted Erik from his reverie, he followed the sound with his eyes to the gates. Moving away from the deck towards the twins, Erik watched for the first time as the twin metal railings of the Valor-Sauvage gate sunk into the water, granting the party access to the open ocean.

“There’s our pal Servantes!” Rab said, looking upwards at the ship’s port side. “Give him a nice thank you wave, everybody!”

Erik followed Rab’s gaze to Puerto Valor’s western entrance gate, where a sharply dressed man with glasses waved at him from a small balcony overlooking the channel. Erik’s companions began to wave and shout thanks at Servantes, and seeing no reason otherwise Erik waved to the butler as well.

He heard a gasp from a few steps to his left, and Erik turned to find Sylvando scrambling behind him with a mortified look.

“Uh, Sylv?” Erik asked, pausing mid-wave to look over his shouler.

Sylvando whimpered before crouching behind Erik like a terrified child, speaking frantically. “Erik honey, everything’s fine, but I just need you to turn around and wave like I’m not here, okay?!”

“Um…okay?” Erik returned his attention to Servantes. The butler had stopped waving and seemed to be staring directly at him, but Erik continued to wave as if nothing happened.

After a few seconds, Servantes drifted out of sight as the _Stallion_ passed into the shadow of the bridge. Erik turned towards Sylvando, who had stood from his crouch and was pensively looking back the way they came.

“What was that all about?” Erik asked.

Sylvando started and turned around, flashing a smile that didn’t reach both sides of his face. “Hm? What do you mean?”

Erik stared at him for a moment. “You trying to avoid that butler. Why’d you need to crouch behind me for?”

Sylvando’s eyes narrowed in discomfort. “That is a _very_ good question, Erik dearie…” he said, craning to look behind Erik. He abruptly turned around before Erik could respond, blurting out, “…buuuut it looks like I need to make sure that…the pantry is fully stocked. Ciao for now!” By the time Sylvando had finished he was already halfway to the deckhouse.

Erik stared after Sylvando, discarding a reminder that he had already checked before they had set off. He turned around, finding the others listening to Rab lecture about what awaited them out in the open ocean. Nobody else seemed to have noticed Sylvando’s strangeness. When Erik looked back at the deckhouse, the door had been left ajar, muffled thumps audible as Sylvando hurried down the stairs.

* * *

“Hey, Sylv!” Erik rapped on the door to the captain’s quarters, the largest of the three at the ship’s stern. The morning sun had risen to afternoon since Sylvando’s episode on the top deck. “You and Dave usually swap places by now. He said he was fine handling things for now, but he’s still worried about you, man.”

Erik waited outside of Sylvando’s door for a few seconds. When no reply came, Erik knocked on the door again. “Sylvando? You in there?” Still no response. He tried opening the door, but it was locked.

Erik stepped back from the door, shaking his head. This wasn’t like Sylv at all. He seemed to be carrying on well in spite of his aversion to the Costa Valor, but now Erik was having second thoughts. Out of everyone in the party, Sylvando was easily the one who seemed to have all his marbles together; but the silent performance he was pulling now was worrisome. What in the world could shake a high-spirited guy like him?

Erik considered knocking again, but footsteps echoed down the corridor towards him. He turned to find Veronica, irritation flashing on her face for a moment as their gazes met.

“What’s the matter with you?” she asked.

“It’s not me, it’s Sylv,” Erik said, pointing over his shoulder. “He’s been acting weird since we reached the bridge at Puerto Valor.”

“Weird how?”

“Well, he was hiding behind me while that butler was waving at us, and now he won’t even come out of his cabin. I’m starting to get a little worried at his silence.”

Veronica frowned at him. “Yeah, like _you're_ the one to talk about being silent. Maybe you should learn to stop being so cagey before you go wondering about someone else’s.” Her features sharpened into an outright scowl, seemingly about to say something else, but she stomped around Erik towards the girls’ cabin to the left of Sylvando’s.

Erik stared after Veronica, considering her words along with everything else as she closed the door behind her. He probably _was_ being too cagey. At least, for his current companions, since the circles he’d ran through before were fine with everyone being tight-lipped—and more than a few people had made it clear they weren’t in the business to make friends. But now, his silence probably worried everyone like he was with Sylv. 

His mind suddenly harked back to a few days ago, to the sparse interactions he had with the tight-lipped Liu Za back at Octagonia. Though Erik knew they had been completely outclassed by Jade, they probably wouldn’t have done that terrible if he had at least bothered not being so stone-faced. Back then he could have made things work, but now it only troubled his companions.

And while everyone in the party worried about each other in some way, there was one among them who he knew worried about him the most. He couldn’t just leave Serena in the dark about everything all of a sudden like he was now.

A pit began to grow in Erik’s stomach, and he let out a deep sigh. He had to make things right with Serena somehow. It was probably going to take explaining some things—willingly delving back into the depths of his past—but he at least owed her an apology.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there's a stretch of the game in act I after Dundrasil where <strike>Serena feels _really_ outclassed by Rab, at least based on how I tend to handle random encounters in a stronger monsters playthrough</strike> (Dragon Quest XI and stronger-monsters-enabled Dragon Quest XI are actually two different videogames), so this kinda ended up being a response to that.
> 
> [UPDATE 20 December 2020: actually, after going through half this game again I can confidently say that Serena is actually _better_ than Rab at stronger monsters due to Kabuff and the Fire + Ice hymns covering everything that you'll constantly need to defend against in Act I, along with having a better MMending stat _and_ a way to reliably finish off enemies at the end of turn cycles without MP using spears (yes, I did not begin to realize this until I made them a thing here). JRPGs are just not very good at encouraging people to use their defensive options outside of specific situations. Use 'em in your normal encounters! They're good!]


	9. Lona'luau

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> notes go up here this time, partly because of my unwillingness to dull the impact of important moments with my silly comments (and this is also par for the course throughout the rest of this fanfic). I highly suggest taking a listen to [some of the songs here](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBHex8NdKK1FYS2--jQlZMR3upGvnyjxs) if you're not familiar with traditional Hawaiian music before reading the second scene.
> 
> Writing original mermaid dialect is a struggle and I pity the poor soul(s?) who had to hammer it out for this sprawl of a videogame.

The landscape before Erik was a blend of blue and white. Save the weird-pinkish algae blemishing the boulders rising above the still waters and the few tiny islands of sand, everything else was either the color of the sky or the clouds that covered portions of it.

It was a nice, quiet view; but chilling despite the calm. Erik had hoped there would be a break from any strangeness with the party’s uneventful ride through the Valor-Sauvage channel the day before, but a weird fog had descended on the _Stallion_ as soon as they had reached it’s western mouth, eventually stranding the party on this islet.

Other than the sun shining down on him and the distant voices of his companions around the island, Erik could sense nothing else. The air was completely free of wind, and the clear blue waters around the island were completely still, like an endless pane of glass. Feeling unnerved, Erik looked down and scanned the boulder he stood upon for a small stone near his feet. He kicked it into the water, and despite his fear it plopped into the water like normal, its impact rippling outwards across the tranquil surface.

It was as if something had separated this island from the rest of the world and froze it in time. Had Erik and the rest of the party not stumbled across it, that pebble and the rest of the island probably would’ve stayed literally exactly as they were for Goddess knows how long. Probably until the next set of poor souls ended up here, Erik figured, considering that they weren’t the first to come across this place.

He looked over his shoulder to the opposite end of the island where Rab stood, gazing at an abandoned ship stuck leaning against the island’s edge. Though it only had one standing mast and some tears in the wood on the port side, it was surprisingly intact. The height of the forecastle and stern over the deck vaguely resembled some of the ships Erik had seen docked at Puerto Valor, but he couldn’t tell exactly what kind of ship it actually was. The sun-faded brown of the wood marked it as ancient, probably even older than the old king of Dundrasil himself.

Sylvando and Dave’s voices drifted from behind Erik as they wracked their brains over what to do about the sandbank the _Stallion_ was stuck on. The shipmasters didn’t have a clue of where they were, but that didn’t seem to be on anyone else’s mind at the moment. Eleven scrounged around for something at the far side of the island, while Jade and Veronica lingered around it’s center, where water had pooled around a raised portion of rock that vaguely resembled a table.

And twenty steps to Erik’s left was Serena, staring at the same horizon as him with a hand held to her chin. While everyone else was either some variation of wariness or unease, Serena seemed to be regarding the dreamlike island with awe. 

Erik had tried thinking of what to say to her all of yesterday, but none of the speeches he had thought up sounded right. He usually tried to make things up as he went along when it came to delicate conversations, but he wanted his apology to sound more than sincere than it would be if he fumbled with his words.

_Well, guess now is a good time as ever,_ Erik thought despite himself. He began across the sands towards Serena. Without the sound of the wind or waves to mask them, every plume of sand Erik kicked up was audible, and Serena perked up without looking his way when he was within a few steps of her.

“Veronica,” Serena began cheerily, “don’t you think those pink rocks would make pretty little sponges?” She turned towards Erik with a grin, but her enthusiasm dimmed when she noticed him.

Erik tried to flashed his best pacifying smile despite his nerves. “Hey, Serena.”

“Hello Erik,” she replied, clasping her hands and glancing away. “Are you feeling better, after everything?”

He considered asking what she meant by “everything” until he realized she was referring to. “Yeah. I’m—” He stopped himself before he could say “fine,” since they both knew that that was far from the truth. “I’m…better, I think.”

“That’s good,” Serena said.

An awkward silence stretched between them as Erik looked away and tried to summon his confidence. Serena stood in front of him the entire time with her clasped hands, gently rocking back and forth in that nervous way of hers, her eyes periodically flashing back and forth between him and somewhere in space. The spiel that Erik had prepared for her had fled when they begun their exchange, but the words slowly returned to him after a few moments. Erik took a deep breath, and met her sidelong eyes. “Serena, I have to—”

Erik and Serena both started at a splash and Veronica’s squeal from a few yards to their left. They turned sharply to the islet’s center where Jade had collapsed beside a standing Eleven and Veronica, the three of them gazing into the left side of the pool. A woman wearing nothing except for a silver bra treaded above the waters, the ends of her long pink hair still curling despite being submerged. Traces of her high-pitched voice rung in Erik’s ears as she spoke to his companions.

Serena gasped with delight. “I knew that there was something fantastical about this island!” she proclaimed, before suddenly scampering away from Erik towards the central pool.

"Fantastical?" A part of Erik wanted to dismiss her observation as silly, especially given their situation, but her optimism was probably for the better. He shrugged and followed her to the island’s center; and was halfway there when the pink-haired lady suddenly leaped from the pool with a flourish, smoothly landing on the stack of rocks it surrounded. Her hair curled all the way down her back to the teal sash tied around her waist, and below that…

Erik heard Veronica’s bewildered voice as he approached. “Hold on…are you…a mermaid!?”

Coming up beside Serena as she gasped, Erik stifled one of his own while they took in the lower half of the mermaid’s body. The pink of her long lower fin was the same bright tone as her hair, scaly and glistening in the sunlight. If she noticed Veronica’s observation, she showed no signs of it. “That's strange, you didn't scream or try to catch me in a net. You're different from most other human beings that I've met. My name's Michelle. I'm sorry if I gave you all a fright, it—it's just I thought my Kai was back, and I got all excited...”

Erik dispelled his surprise to mull over Michelle’s initial comment. Depending on who you asked, mermaids were either the most enchanting and beautiful beings that could ever grace mortal eyes, or sinister temptresses whose penchant for stealing souls made them the hidden scourge of the seas. As the mermaid before Erik launched into some far-fetched monologue, he found it hard to believe they were anything but theatrically sentimental as she went on.

Apparently, there was an arrangement between herself and a fisherman named Kai from somewhere called Lonalulu. Erik had heard the name tossed around here and there in his travels, but supposedly there wasn’t anything of value there other than a middling pearl trade. Michelle was supposed to be married to Kai so they could live happily ever after somewhere beneath the sea; but despite promising that he would return to this island, the guy hadn’t bothered to come back yet. She was unhappy at having to wait for so long, but it seemed kind of obvious to Erik that he wouldn’t be able to get back there with how him and the rest of the party had came across this time-frozen island in the first place.

Everyone was silent as they listened to Michelle’s story, but in the edge of his vision Erik could see Serena completely captivated by her tale. She raised her clasped hands to her face when the mermaid spoke of her marriage but sagged when Michelle said that she had been waiting for Kai to return.

And like how meeting strange characters always seemed to come down to for the gang, Michelle asked if they could go visit Lonalulu to check on him for her. Veronica had an inkling about one of the orbs being beneath the sea somewhere, so she proposed in exchange for checking on her fiancé, the mermaid would help them get down to a city beneath the ocean somehow. Erik had always doubted there being any sort actual civilization under the sea what with how unruly its monsters tended to be, but after everything he had experienced in this journey so far, the idea didn’t sound as far-fetched anymore.

Eleven agreed to the arrangement after some prodding by Jade, and Michelle beamed at the party. “Thank you! Thank you, all of you! I'd be indebted to you, if you could try to find him in the town of Lonalulu! I'll mark the village on your map—it's to the south of Hotto. A beautiful blue bay behind an isolated grotto.” She nodded at Sylvando and Dave to Erik’s left before raising her hands energetically. “My Kai's a famous fisherman, as rugged as the ocean. A hunky, chunky sailor stuffed with smoldering emotion!”

Michelle’s voice had mellowed into a dreamy tone by then, and she giggled before finishing her spiel. Serena sighed from beside Erik, the delight in her exhalation matched by the twinkle he could see in her eyes. Finished with her speech, Michelle leaped sprightly from the stack of boulders and dove back into the pool she had emerged from.

Eleven and Jade and Veronica stared after Michelle for a few seconds before they began to discuss things among themselves. Sylvando and Dave shared a pained glance before yelling the mermaid’s name at the pool—presumably to get help in figuring out how to actually get off the island—while Rab made his way around the pool towards the shipmasters, a fruity look plastered on his face.

Serena turned towards Erik then, her eyes still twinkling as she beamed at him. “Can you believe it, Erik? A human and a mermaid falling in love…it’s like something straight out of a fairy tale!”

Erik found himself stumped at her sudden enthusiasm. “Uh…I guess?”

She seemed to simmer down at Erik’s confusion, and Serena raised a hand to her cheek as she giggled. “Sorry for my babbling. I just loved reading romance stories when I was little, and Michelle’s affections for a human is just like my favorite one! Oh, it’s like the sequel to _A Ripple on the Sea of Love_ I’ve always waited for…”

Despite himself, Erik let out a nervous chuckle. “Yeah…” he murmured, prodding the itch behind his head at Serena’s disappearing enthusiasm. “Sorry. Love’s…not really my thing. Much less peeping into other people’s love lives.”

“Oh…” Serena breathed disappointedly before looking away. “That’s alright. I hope I didn’t remind you of anything unpleasant…”

Erik stared at her for a moment. “Huh?”

Serena looked back towards him, the confusion on her face matching his. “Erm, well…I wasn’t sure if your…past troubles involved a lost lover or something similar…”

Where in the world did she get that idea from? “Uh, no?” Erik replied out loud. “I’ve never really had a chance to get close to anyone like that.”

Serena perked up at his response. “Really?”

“Nope,” Erik replied, shrugging. Running around the world like he was up until a couple months ago, sentimental stuff like falling in love was probably one of the last things on his mind. Derk had gotten tripped up by that but had somehow managed to fall out of the game into a better life; but the Knobbler had always been a decent enough charmer, good enough for him to always be the man to be in disguise whenever they messed with anyone with status. Love wasn’t for someone like Erik, a lone wolf who had always needed to keep his emotions in check before they got in the way.

“Oh.” Serena’s eyes were distant, but one side of her mouth was curled upwards slightly, slotting her expression somewhere between confusion and relief.

“Is that a good thing?” Erik asked, frowning.

The relief disappeared from Serena’s face. “What?”

“You were smiling.”

“I was?” There was genuine surprise in her voice.

“Yeah, you were.”

Serena blushed, glancing away and raising another hand to her cheek.“I wasn’t aware that I was, to be perfectly honest…”

Before Erik could inquire more, another splash sounded from behind him, and they turned to find Michelle having resurfaced in the pool at Sylvando and Dave’s calls.

“Pardon us, miss Shell,” Dave began. “We’d be ‘appy to go and check on your chap; but the fing is, our ship is over there stuck on a sandbar, and we’ve been ‘aving a mess of a time finking ‘ow to get it out. You wouldn’t ‘appen to be able to ‘elp us out there, would you?”

Michelle gasped, turning in the water towards the _Stallion_ in the distance. “Silly me—I didn’t know that your ship was stuck in this place! But don’t worry, I know exactly how to return it to the ocean’s embrace!” The mermaid closed her eyes, raised a hand above the water, and began to sing.

_“Shifting sands where this ship has settled, move from beneath this stranded vessel!”_

A steady hissing cascaded towards Erik’s ears, and he turned with the rest of the party towards the _Stallion_ as the sandbar parted from beneath the ship, settling in the water with a splash. Erik’s eyes widened on their own at Michelle’s ability, his amazement matched by his companions’ gasps and murmurs. Michelle’s voice chimed out once again from behind.

_“Ocean breezes, swirling above the waves, carry them to Lonalulu without delay!”_

There was no audible change, but the sails of the _Salty Stallion_ billowed outwards. For a moment, Erik thought that the ship would move forward on its own, but the masts settled back before billowing again after a moment while still remaining in place. The wind, Erik guessed, would circulate there, but when the ship began to move, it would blow outwards, speeding up their travel.

Michelle giggled as everyone’s attention returned to her. “My melodic magic should help you along on your way. Lonalulu is quite far away, but the winds should help you reach it by the end of today.” She gasped in realization. “There’s one more thing I need to say before you go—please don’t tell anyone but Kai I’m waiting on this shore. I don’t know why, but lots of sailors seem to hate our kind. If you could keep it a secret, it’d really ease my mind.”

With that, the mermaid turned and sunk back into the pool, twirling as she swam downwards and eventually disappearing from view.

* * *

Erik sat on the left stoop of Lonalulu’s inn, leaning against the wall so that he could hide in the shadows of its overhang while still being able to easily see at the town’s center. Serena was there, sitting on the dock hanging over the beach, nursing the wounds of a Lonalulan for the third time in the past ten minutes.

The stout man was the last of a line of other guys who had been eager for Serena’s attention for the past half hour. The other guys in line had made some repeat visits before him, apparently coming up with a bunch of different excuses to get more chances to talk to her. From what Erik could tell, a couple of them were half drunk, but the others kept coming just to fawn over her—including a native who wanted to have some kind of break from his wife, who had dragged him away by the ear just a few minutes ago.

Erik raised the last of the grilled calamari to his mouth, savoring the last of its rubbery tenderness tinged with lemon as he chewed. Like Sylv had said in his urgings earlier, it was definitely to die for—though a part of Erik was paranoid that he _would_ die from eating it, what with all the times they had poisoned that blasted tentacular earlier in the day, apparently the same one that Jasper guy had sicced on them at Gondolia a couple weeks ago. He thought about going back to the bar for another piece, maybe help himself the rum that they were handing out willy-nilly, but there was one more struggle that he needed to deal with before he could truly relax.

He kept watching for a couple more minutes as the Lonalulan continued to speak with Serena, until finally he got up from the other stool in front of her and left in the direction of the bar. Serena waved to the man as they went, then stood up and looked around as if remembering where she was. Her vision passed over Erik a few times, but she didn’t notice him sitting on the inn’s porch.

_Now_ had to be the best time. Around when the angry wife had appeared, Serena had spoke to Eleven and Jade and Veronica in passing as they followed a fisherman into further up into the village, presumably the Kai they were there to check on, and hopefully any chance of strange happenings went with them. Erik stretched as he raised himself from the porch before making his way across the packed dirt by the docks. As his steps reached wood, he called out, “Hey, Serena?”

She looked up from rubbing her eyes, smiling softy at him through her visible exhaustion. “Good evening, Erik. Have you been enjoying all the festivities?”

Despite her friendliness, the same nervousness Erik had felt at the Strand yesterday returned. “It’s nice,” he said, more curtly than intended. He skipped straight to the point, gesturing further down the docks. “Can I talk to you for a second?”

Serena’s warm expression dampened slightly, but she nodded. She followed as Erik went down the dock’s longest bridge, turning left at the first fork. Erik sat facing the horizon between the first pair of wooden legs, under the multicolored paper lanterns strung above them in their honor for getting rid of the tentacular.

Serena sat down beside him, her face etched with worry as she turned to face him. “What’s wrong?”

Erik looked down at his legs, dangling over the tide as it drifted in and out, not unlike how the nervousness ebbed in his stomach. He tried forcing it down with a deep breath. “Serena,” he began, “I want to apologize. About how I was that night at Dundrasil…and everything else, I guess. My nerves were all messed up by a really bad nightmare, and you were persistent, and I’ve always been secretive about my past, and then…that happened.” The words tumbled out of Erik’s mouth, as if they had always been there, simply waiting to be said. His mind went back to that night, him jerking his shoulder back in vexation and feeling his elbow hit her square in the chest. Serena’s astonishment brought him out of the haze of his anger, and he wanted to say sorry right then and there, but she was running away before the apology could even leave his mouth. That had left him even more flustered, and he couldn’t remember how long he had sat down on that ridge feeling angry at himself.

He thought he would feel something at letting things out besides the fuzziness in his stomach, but there was nothing else there. He shook his head and pushed on. “I probably should have said something about it earlier, but I…I just got cagey like I always do. I knew that my past would have come up if we talked again, and I didn’t want to risk hurting you, but I think me keeping quiet was already doing that. You’re probably upset for leaving you in the dark, and I’m sorry.”

Erik kept his eyes on the tide through his spiel, unsure of what awaited after he finished his apology. He expected Serena to deliberate after hearing all that, but she responded only a couple seconds later.

“I forgive you, Erik,” he heard Serena say.

Knowing how easygoing she was, it wasn’t far-fetched for her to immediately forgive him, but her knowing tone surprised him. Erik looked up at Serena then, her kind smile from before having returned.

“Wait…” Erik said, staring at her before the realization dawned on him. “You knew?”

Serena nodded with a “mmhmm.”

“And you’re not angry?”

His question gave Serena pause. “Well, I will admit that I was upset when you were being silent for all that time, but I had already guessed why you were so erratic. Though it was a little obvious, since you hadn’t made a peep the whole time you were in the tent that evening…”

“Yeah,” Erik said with a chuckle, “it probably was, wasn’t it?”

Serena giggled along with his laugh, and the conversation trailed off. Her expression grew somber, and Serena looked at her hands clasped in her lap for a moment before speaking again. “You’ve never talked to anyone about your past before, have you?”

Erik turned his gaze towards the horizon, a grayed blue haze hanging above the ships as the late night sky and sea merged into one. “No,” he confessed. Bad memories of his childhood poked at the edge of his mind, and he clenched the lip of the bridge between him and Serena as he battered them away. “It’s…hard.”

“Hard” didn’t even begin to describe how difficult it was for Erik to talk about his past to other people, but Serena seemed to take it anyway. “Well, I don’t know if you remember what I said to you at Dundrasil, but I want you to know that I want to help you.” She shifted in the corner of Erik’s vision, and he suddenly felt her hand atop his. He glanced up at Serena, finding her smiling again. Her eyebrows had lowered slightly, tinging her expression with sadness, but her eyes were firm. “I know it’s painful for you, but having someone to confide in will help ease that. You don’t have to tell anyone but me, and you don’t have to lay out everything at once if it’s too much for you. We can take things at your own pace, one bad memory at a time.”

Erik held Serena’s gaze for a few moments as relief washed over him. Despite that, something felt off. Her consolation had dispelled most of his lingering nervousness, but still something else was…choked up. It was being held back, but as for why, Erik couldn’t tell. Eventually, he nodded at Serena. “Yeah…that would be nice. Thank you,” he said, hoping he sounded genuine enough.

Serena nodded back, looking slightly unsure of herself as she withdrew her hand. Her sheepishness suddenly gave Erik the urge to scratch behind his neck. “Um…” Erik began, indulging his itch, “should we start now, or what?”

“No,” Serena said with a chuckle. “Doing things at your own pace means we wait until you’re ready.” Her tone suddenly became teasing. “Just don’t take too long and clam up again all of a sudden.”

“Right…” Erik said, surprised at her sudden playfulness but saying nothing else.

The conversation trailed off again, and they sat in silence. Close as they were to the sea, a gentle wind had constantly been blowing inward, but Erik hadn’t noticed it until now. The tides before them periodically clashed against the small cluster of rocks below them, occasionally tossing up drops of water. He could still hear the liveliness coming from the village’s eastern end, and wondered how late it would get until things started to truly calm down.

After a short minute, Erik’s anxiety suddenly spiked again about the quiet. He hadn’t thought to wonder why Serena was still sitting beside him after so long, other than wanting to be there if he started wrestling with his memories. Erik still didn’t want her to have to worry about him so much, and began to mentally consider a few questions in his head—where she thought Eleven and the other had gotten to, or if she had eaten anything since the party started—until he glanced in her direction out the corner of his eye.

Serena showed no signs of wanting to move, still holding a soft smile from their conversation. She didn’t seem to notice his nervousness at all, and was apparently perfectly content to just sit there and enjoy the silence. Feeling silly, Erik sighed inwardly and relaxed, and things shifted to a companionable silence.

The pleasantness lasted for barely thirty seconds before Erik’s ears perked up at the sound of a low rumble from his left. It gradually grew louder along with the chatter, and Erik turned his attention to the east.

Nearly two dozen people were making their way up the stairs of the eastern cape towards the town center, bringing a huge racket with them. Four Lonalulans walked at the front of the group in their yellow tunics; three of them carried guitars of differing shapes and sizes while another lugged a drum like a bongo drongo’s that was tied around their waist, banging on it much faster than any monster Erik had ever seen before. A handful of sailors, merchants, and other non-natives were clumped together with a group of Lonalulans following behind with cheers and whoops, some of their cries slurred from having too many drinks.

The question on Erik’s lips was cut off the booming voice of one of the Lonalulans, the one that belonged to the bearded guy that had thanked them aboard the _Stallion_ after they had taken down the tentacular. “_E hele, e hele_ everyone! The night’s not over yet! Full belly or no, it’s time to _luau_ ‘till the sun comes up!”

“Oh boy, this again,” Erik groaned. “I thought they had finished with all the dancing for the night? I can’t believe anyone’s—”

Serena’s gasp cut through his statement. She craned to the left to stare at the crowd with enthusiasm, her smiles from before having combined into a full-on grin. “Oh goody, another dancing demonstration!”

“…still got any energy left over,” Erik finished. Serena didn’t seem to hear, her attention stuck on the approaching flock of people. As their clamor grew closer, Erik’s surprise evaporated entirely when he noticed Sylvando right in the middle, laughing and cheering along with the rest of them. When they reached the docks, Sylvando noticed Erik and Serena sitting further out and waved at them.

“Yoooo hooo!” he called out. “Sereeeeenaa, Eeeeeeriiiik! What are you two doing sitting down over there? Things are about to get a lot more grooving! Get on over here!”

Serena shot to her feet with another gasp. “It’s a dance party! Come on Erik, let’s go join the fun!” she chimed, beaming down at him.

“Uh, dancing?” Erik echoed. “I’m pretty sure that’s something completely out of my league, unless you can pull whatever shenanigan that monsters like to do sometimes…”

In an almost surreal moment, Serena’s expression flipped into a frown, and she placed a hand on her hip. “Come now, Erik, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you try to do anything to loosen up ever since we’ve begun traveling together!”

“What do you mean, ‘loosen up?’ I’ve been doing plenty of things to loosen up whenever we’ve had downtime!”

“And have any of those things involved the company of me or any of our companions?”

Erik ran through his activities from their last few nights—cleaning his dagger, lounging against a pile of twigs while everyone chattered, sullenly cooking dinner, working up a sweat on a whim, picking out some constellations in the sky—and came up with nothing. “…okay, but it’s not like I’m the only one! Jade’s probably just as stone-faced as me, if not more!”

“Jade may be a guarded person, but I’ll have you know that she’s actually quite the sweetheart once you get to know her!” Serena shot back. “And I’m certain that she’d like to let her hair down without nearly as much prodding!” The irritation in her expression disappeared, as if her original persona had left before and but had now returned. “You don’t have to be such a party pooper, you know.”

Erik wasn’t sure of what he found more surprising: the fact that Serena’s accusations were right, or how she had suddenly began to echo her sister. Either way, Erik knew he probably wouldn’t hear the end of it if he refused her. “Ugh, fine,” he said with a conceding wave.

She clapped delightedly as Erik got to his feet, and they made their way up the docks to the group of people crowded around Lonalulu’s center. The natives carrying instruments stood at the mouth of the path leading to the upper part of the village, and the three guitar players—two men and a woman—chanted in an indecipherable language, their voices heavy and sometimes lingering on their vowels. They paused for a second as Erik and Serena reached the edge of the onlookers, then suddenly launched into a rapid recital as they strummed their guitars just as quickly.

A few of the Lonalulan women in the crowd had moved to the side of the musicians. They had stood still with the guitarists’ initial chant, but they broke into a choreographed dance as the chanting sped up, each stretching a single arm out before them and twirling before imitating a wave with both arms. After that, their dances shifted through poses too foreign to Erik for him to identify, but the ladies seemed to be following the movement of their hands, in a way. Nearby, Sylvando had began a dance of his own, but he paused and inspected the moves of the Lonalulan dancers.

Erik’s gaze fluctuated between the dancers and the cheering onlookers until he felt Serena’s gaze on him from the side, looking at him with an expectant smile.

“Are you going to dance?” she asked.

“I don’t really know how,” Erik replied with a shrug.

Serena chuckled at his uncertainty. “Erik, dancing’s not something you need to think about. It’s an expression of yourself, something that doesn’t require any sort of practice. See?” She began to briskly bounce from one foot to the other, leaning into each step as she swung her bent arms. It looked completely silly, yet Serena closed her eyes and continued as if they weren’t right next to a group of possible onlookers. “Just open yourself up to the rhythm, and let your instincts take over.”

“All right,” Erik said with a sigh. Scratching at an itch on his neck, he focused his ears on the music over the cacophony of the crowd. A rising apprehension gave him pause, but he did his best to ignore it, listening to the synchronized Lonalulan chants and the strumming of their strings. He glanced at Serena, noticing how she switched legs after every audible strum, and let himself move to the music.

Erik began to sway from side to side to the rhythm; only slightly at first, but gradually putting his weight into each side. Eventually, he began to lean into each beat enough for him to move from one foot to another as he swayed.

“There we go!” Serena cheered. “Get your arms into it, don’t just leave them dangling there!”

Erik shot her a look before raising his arms and moving them along with the music as well. His apprehension began to dissolve as his body seemed to move on his own, and he was close to being completely relaxed it until he heard a muffled laugh from Serena. He glanced at her sidelong and found her having paused in her dance, covering her mouth with a mirthful glint in her eyes.

“What’s so funny?” Erik asked, feeling his cheeks heat up but continuing to dance despite himself.

“It’s your dance,” Serena said, not bothering to hide her grin anymore. “I can tell it’s something you’ve made up on your own, but it looks so much like Rab’s sultry one.”

Erik groaned. “Please don’t tell anyone about this.”

“I think you’ll have to be more worried about Sylvando than me,” Serena replied with a giggle. Their jester companion had fallen into step beside the Lonalulan dancers—though his imitation wasn’t perfect, Sylvando was already following along with their routine. Erik caught Sylv’s eyes as he was in the middle of a twirl, and he winked at Erik before twirling the other way.

Putting aside his annoyance, Erik kept swaying to the strums of the guitars, and his unease gave way to a slight enjoyment by the time the first song had finished. After a short interval for the crowd’s applause, the Lonalulans began another song, one that immediately launched into rapid chants and brisk strumming. Despite the higher tempo, this song brought out a more mellow dance from Erik—halfhearted at first, until Serena’s cheers encouraged him to get into it once again. By the third song, Erik needed little prodding from Serena, and he moved along to the music with something he hadn’t felt in a long time.

* * *

Ironically, despite her insistence that Erik loosen himself up and try to enjoy himself, Serena found herself growing tired before he did. Remediating all those Lonalulan men for quite some time beforehand was more exhausting than she thought it would be, and by the time the musicians had begun a slow-paced fourth song, Serena was ready to rest.

“Well? Wasn’t that fun?” she asked of Erik as they returned to their previous place on the docks.

“Yeah,” Erik confirmed, his eyes narrowed despite his smile as they sat. Even though he was enjoying himself, Erik needed little convincing to stop dancing, but Serena guessed that this was probably his first time. “It was…really refreshing,” he continued. “I haven’t done anything like that in a long time.”

Serena’s smile widened. “I’m glad to hear that.” Seeing Erik in higher spirits than usual brought her quite a bit of elation; much more than that of witnessing the same from her sister or her other companions recently. The obvious answer was likely the satisfaction from finally piercing his gruff exterior, but the cause felt…deeper than that. Serena couldn’t quite seem to reason as to why, but she was more than happy not knowing in spite of that.

She sighed contentedly, leaning backwards and looking up at the night sky. “If only more of the others had been here for the dancing. I’m sure my sister would have enjoyed it.”

“Yeah…she probably would,” Erik said, his voice growing oddly distant.

“I wonder where she and Eleven and Jade could have gotten to? I’m certain that they were following after Kai, but I didn’t think they would be away for so long…” Serena giggled at her next thought. “Unless, maybe, they’re helping him pack so that he won’t leave anything behind when he moves under the sea with Michelle!” Her guess hung in the air as she awaited a response, but none came after a few seconds. “Erik?” When Serena turned towards him, she couldn’t help her sudden gasp.

Erik looked as if he had broken down again like at Dundrasil, yet this time he made no attempt to hide his sorrow. His head sagged, his mouth was drooped, and his eyes were clenched shut as tears leaked from their corners. His sobbing was audible enough to mask the music behind them, and he visibly convulsed with each one.

“Erik!?” Serena cried. “What’s wrong?”

Erik didn’t respond through his sobs, and Serena’s fears only worsened. “Erik!?” she repeated, panic tinging her call. She scooted closer to him and lay a hand on his shoulder. “Did you have another bad reminiscence?”

He finally responded with a feeble shake of his head.

Serena felt a pulse of shame at the implications of her next thought, but she asked anyway. “Was my prodding of you to dance making you uncomfortable?”

“No,” he managed between sobs, his voice trembling. “You didn’t do anything, it’s just…she…I…”

“What is it?”

Erik continued crying for nearly ten seconds, his mouth working fruitlessly all the while. Finally, he opened his eyes and asked her, “Do you remember Gallopolis, when you asked if I had any siblings?”

Serena nodded. “I do.”

“Well, I—I lied. I had a sister. You might have guessed it already, but her name was Mia, and she…she…”

“She what?” Serena asked, finding his use of “had” foreboding.

Erik paused for a few more seconds as his tears seemed to dry up, and he craned his head slightly to meet Serena’s gaze with glassy eyes. She couldn’t tell if frustration or anger or sadness churned within them. “The dancing—she would have loved it,” he said, his voice dropping to a whisper. “But she’s gone. She’s _gone_, and I can’t do a thing about it.” 

There was a finality in those words, and Erik’s head drooped as he began to sob once again, more intensely than before.

Witnessing Erik’s sorrow firsthand brought out the same in Serena, and she blinked against her own tears. “Oh gosh, Erik, I…” She cut herself off, words suddenly feeling useless, and sidled closer to him. Serena took her arm from his shoulder and wrapped it around him, pulling him into an embrace with the other. Erik leaned stiffly into her hug, craning his neck so that he could cry into the puffy shoulder of Serena’s dress.

For how long she held Erik like that, Serena couldn’t tell. She could feel him tremble in her arms, and she could eventually feel the dampness of his tears against her skin. As Erik continued to cry, she felt the reluctance she had developed from the incident at Dundrasil begin to fade away. Despite that lingering fear, she could feel something deep within her tell her that this was _right_ somehow, even more than those rare occasions where Veronica needed to be consoled. Serena felt as if she should be ashamed at feeling so with someone she wasn’t as close with, but the near-euphoric elation she had felt in that moment when he collapsed into her hug overwrote that entirely.

Eventually, Erik’s sobbing calmed down, and Serena felt him pulling away from her arms. With more reluctance than she expected of herself, Serena let go and inched away slightly. Erik raised a hand to his face to wipe away the rest of his tears, and Serena watched him silently.

In spite of her satisfaction from the evening, Erik’s admittance of his lie troubled Serena. It wasn’t a harmful one—knowing what she knew now, it was likely reflexive so that he could hide away his pain. But while a part of her knew she couldn’t ignore it, that same indiscernible feeling wanted her to discard it. She filed it away in the back of her memory as she waited for Erik to recover.

Still sniffling, Erik angled his head towards her, smiling weakly. “I really needed that,” he said, his voice having grown steady. “Thank you, Serena.”

Serena’s wariness dissolved at his thanks, and she responded with a gentle nod. Despite his lie, it was obvious from his impassioned crying that Erik had truly cared for his sister. She wanted to ask what horrible series of events had happened for him to feel so strongly about it, but now was far from the proper time.

And plus, she was rather averse to seeing Erik any sadder than already was, what with how _striking_ he seemed to her all of a sudden. Though his eyes were narrowed and still glassy from his bout of crying, he still smiled as he looked at the horizon, a somber, yet hopeful expression. The way the spiky locks of his hair flowed backwards seemed rather harsh, but its calm blue color made it strangely fascinating to inspect—not to mention that it matched quite nicely with the late-night darkness. She had a slight temptation to reach out and touch it, but felt silly for not taking the opportunity to do so when he was still in his arms. Though it was fading away from her memory, Serena could still imagine the sensation of his body firmly held against hers, and her pulse began to quicken.

That indecipherable feeling from before bubbled to the surface, and a myriad of different thoughts fell into place in her head. Michelle’s love-stricken voice from the day before suddenly echoed in Serena’s thoughts.

_“My Kai's a famous fisherman, as rugged as the ocean. A hunky, chunky sailor stuffed with smoldering emotion!”_

She was _falling in love_ with Erik, at least, if she wasn’t already.

Serena stifled a gasp at her revelation, suddenly feeling foolish for not recognizing it before with all the romances she had experienced. Of all her imaginings about the person she would fall in love with derived from those stories, never would she have thought it would be someone as rough and tumble as Erik. Though he was a far cry away from a well-mannered prince, he certainly _was_ handsome. Funnily enough, Erik actually matched the latter part of Michelle’s picture of her beloved—save the hunky-chunkiness, “sailor stuffed with smoldering emotion” was actually quite apt when Serena thought about it.

A dozen questions began to swirl in her head. How would the other party members feel about her affections? Would she be able to convince Veronica to not be so at odds with someone she quibbled with nearly every day? Would her parents approve of her loving such an unseemly person? Would Erik still be receptive to her if he knew about her crush for him?

That led to an even more vital question, the one that on which all the others she voiced before depended upon: would Erik even return her affection?

Unexpectedly, Serena had no answer to that. Her romance-fueled idealism wanted assert that even someone who had never experienced love in their life would still be able to give it to others, but Erik’s comment about love “not being his thing” the day before stifled that. It left Serena completely uncertain, and that was more troubling to her than the lack of a definite answer.

“Is something wrong?” Erik’s voice suddenly reminding her that he was still sitting right beside her jolted Serena from her thoughts.

Serena felt her cheeks redden and she looked slightly away, doing her best to prevent any more anxiety from showing on her face. “Nothing!” she blurted out, flashing a conciliatory smile in spite of her abruptness.

Erik sad nothing and mercifully returned his attention to the horizon, seemingly not noticing her apprehension. Feeling awkward, Serena turned her gaze to the horizon as well, and they continued to stare at the blue haze in silence.


	10. Nautical Wondering

Erik’s narrowed his eyes to slits as bright blue-white light suffused the edges of his vision. At Michelle’s posthumous request—Erik knew that messing around with people’s love lives never ended well—the party had Zoomed back to Zwaardsrust and sailed to the giant pillar of light in the middle of the inland sea.

When he was first getting acquainted with the inner oceans as a fledgling thief, that pillar of light had stuck out like a tear in a ship’s mast, but it eventually became no more than a distant curiosity since the average sailor wouldn’t go within a few miles of the thing with the perpetual storms shadowing it. But now, as the _Stallion_ sat right in the middle of the shining ring, Erik had a prickling nervousness, a lingering sense of foreboding that came from having just witnessed Michelle’s death.

Erik parted his eyes a little bit more as they adjusted to the light, and he could make out the rest of the party gathered on the deck, their features and surroundings darkened by the rainy weather but brightened by the blue-white encircling them. Eleven stood in the middle, holding Michelle’s memento left at the Strand: a small silver harp that was slightly bigger than Serena’s lyre, with flowing pink waves engraved on its sides.

“Well, laddie,” Rab began, “we’ve got ourselves right atop a shining whirlpool. Why don’t ye give that harp a strum or two and see if it can’t take us down under.”

Eleven nodded at his grandfather, raising his other hand before the harp. As El’s fingers inched towards the strings, Erik’s foreboding suddenly deepened at his erratic predictions. Michelle had said that she could “safely” sink them down to the ocean floor with some kind of song, but what would happen now that she was gone? Even if she had willingly passed away, was their voucher of safety null now that she wasn’t there to guide them down herself? What if the sea, the cruel mistress that she apparently was, punished them for bringing one of its maidens to an early death?

The Luminary strummed the harp once, and for a moment his note hung over the patter of rain.

Nothing happened.

After a few seconds, Veronica broke the silence that followed. “Um, something was supposed to happen, wasn’t it?” she questioned, looking around the ship with narrowed eyes.

“Michelle’s note said to play the harp over a shining whirlpool in the inland sea,” Jade pondered, holding a finger to her chin. “But it didn’t mention if there was more than one, did it?”

“I’ve been across these waters plenty of times, but I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen any other weird pillars of light other than this one,” Erik said. “What other one of these could she have been talking about?”

Sylvando’s frustrated groan brought all eyes to him. “Oh please, Shell, don’t tell me…” he said, shaking his head before turning towards the north. “Technically speaking, darlings, that landlocked lake to the north of us flows into this sea, and if I’m not mistaken, I could spot another one of these pillars of light off the coast of Dundrasil…”

“Crivens, Sylvando, you’re right!” Rab said with a gasp. “Och, for crying out loud, how could I forget all those times spotting that ray of light off the coast of my own kingdom…curse this memory of mine!”

“Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s sail over there!” Veronica said emphatically.

“It’s not so simple like that, Ronnie dearie,” Sylvando said, his expression upset as he turned back towards the party. “That lake is connected to the sea only through a tiny cove, too small for the _Stallion_ to travel through and too rocky for us to get through otherwise.”

Erik added his own groan to the collective sounds of exasperation at Sylvando’s explanation. “Oh, for Yggdrasil’s sake…” Veronica moaned, “don’t tell me that we’re going to be tripped up by a long-living magical sea creature without any sense of direction…”

Given how long Michelle had waited for her long-dead lover at the Strand, her having a poor sense of direction didn’t sound too far off to Erik. “Fancy that—instead of not being able to get to the bottom of the ocean, we get the wrong directions from someone who’s far beyond long gone,” he said.

Veronica seemed to only grow more aggravated at Erik’s comment, but thankfully she released another groan instead of directing it towards him. “Wrong directions or not, she said that harp would get us down to meet the queen, and we’re not going anywhere until we know how it works!” She jabbed a finger at Eleven. “Come on, Eleven, keep playing that thing until something happens!”

As Eleven began to strum haphazardly, Erik craned his neck around to examine their surroundings as he mulled over a solution to their predicament. Strangely enough, now that they were right on top of the shining whirlpool, the rain wasn’t falling onto the ship. Erik looked at at the clouds directly above to find them apart of the same gray mass, then down to follow the wisps riding up the shimmering blue walls, almost like foam on the surface of the ocean.

Erik considered taking a chance with his vision to get a good look at the sparkling rings rippling out from the whirlpool on the water’s surface, but as he turned his eyes fell onto those of Serena’s from beside him, narrowed like everyone else’s, but keenly staring right at him.

He raised an eyebrow before asking, “You okay there, Serena?”

Serena’s eyes widened in surprise, and she let out a brief gasp. She blinked at Erik for a moment as if realizing something, then suddenly blushed and raised a hand to her mouth. “Yes, I’m fine.”

Her strange reaction reminded Erik of how she was acting before the tournament at Octagonia. He thought about inquiring more, but there were more important things to worry about. “Well, you got any good ideas of what we should do about this?” he asked, gesturing towards Eleven having a rare moment of confusion.

Serena followed his gesture and tilted her head in thought for a few seconds, then perked up as she came to a solution. “I know!” Her sheepishness evaporated, she walked to the center of the party and asked “Eleven, may I try something?”

Eleven handed the instrument off to her and stepped back. Serena hefted the harp with one hand, closing her eyes before raising her other hand to its strings. Her fingers strummed each of the harp’s eight strings almost too fast for Erik to follow, her quick succession of notes forming a brief, sweet-sounding melody.

Only rain followed in the wake of Serena’s song for a moment, until the surrounding light grew brighter.

In the space of a second, the space surrounding the _Salty Stallion_ was enclosed by a shining milky-white bubble, and Erik clenched his eyes shut again to shield against the blinding light. His heart skipped a beat as he felt the ship _lurch_ downwards under him, and he didn’t need to open his eyes to know they were sinking.

Erik’s heart began to pound, and he stumbled backwards to the railing behind him, keeping his eyes shut tight as he awaited the inevitable sploosh of being submerged.

It came as a muffled sound to Erik’s ears, and then he could hear the surprised gasps of his companions on the deck loud and clear. Craning his head upwards, he parted his eyes slightly.

When they could make out his surroundings, Erik’s eyes wrenched themselves open.

The bubble encircling the _Stallion_ had turned nearly transparent, tinting the surrounding blue expanse with pink in some spots, yellow in others. Erik could see the huge froth of water on the surface from where they sunk despite the disappearance of the shining whirlpool, and millions of bubbles followed in their wake as they continued their descent.

And crazily enough, Erik realized, the _Stallion_’s masts were completely still. In fact, he was breathing just fine, and when the fact that _they were underwater_ finally sunk in, he frantically ran his hands across himself. He felt completely dry. Erik’s head drooped on its own as he breathed out a relieved sigh, and he raised it again to see similar reactions from the rest of the party.

Though it hadn’t occurred to him before they submerged, Erik felt a sudden curiosity to see if underwater scenery was anything other than an endless expanse of blue. He turned around to lean over the railing, and couldn’t help but gasp himself.

An enormous plateau rose from the ocean floor far below the _Stallion_, growing larger by the second in their descent. Rock shelves jutted out from the craggy surface in places, each dotted with a menagerie of almost otherworldly plants with different shapes and sizes and colors. Despite the overcast weather on the surface, rays of light shone into a gorge carved right in the center of the plateau; and at its far end stood a giant whelk seashell, colored white with vertical pink stripes and nearly as tall as the walls surrounding it. Erik could make out what seemed to be an entire town nestled at its base, with clear paths visible between rocks and a collection of cerulean blue domes.

It was like a kid’s idea of what an underwater city would look like had been pulled right from their dreams and built right in the middle of the ocean. Erik processed the entire landscape in silence, lost at how to express his wonder outside of a simple “Whoa.” He wasn’t sure if the others had heard him or not, but Veronica was soon perched over the railing a few feet further down the deck, and the rest of the party followed at her louder cries of astonishment.

“It’s quite the view, isn’t it?” Serena’s voice from behind Erik pulled him from his trance, and he found her regarding the scenery with only a soft smile as she stepped up beside him, still carrying the harp.

“No kidding,” Erik agreed. “I’m surprised you aren’t acting just as crazy as Veronica over there.”

Serena laughed lightly at his comment. “To be honest, this isn’t very far removed to how I imagined a city under the sea to actually look like, since I’ve read so many storybooks…”

“I think I can imagine the same,” Erik replied, taking another look at the silver harp. “How’d you know what to play?”

“Well, since Michelle used her mermaid magic before, I thought it would be fitting to play something that was associated with the sea.” Serena played the tune once more, its notes seeming to echo within the enclosed air. “If I remember correctly, this one is called Lorelei’s Melody. I’ll have to teach Eleven how to play it himself later.”

“I thought you didn’t know how to play a harp?”

“I don’t,” Serena said, examining the instrument, “but fortunately, this one is tiny enough for me to play as if I were using my own lyre, right down to having the exact same number of strings!”

Erik grinned at her. “Well, that harp may be magic, but I guess your talent was worth more than that in the end, huh?”

Serena’s cheeks began to redden, and she raised her free hand to her cheek before giggling again. “Yes, I suppose so.”

* * *

“What about those, over there?” Serena asked, pointing above her and Erik.

Erik followed her gesture to a cluster of flat yellow fish with white stripes, each nearly as long as his forearm. Their path went right above him and Serena, which gave Erik a little trouble making out the shift to a deep blue on their rear fins. “I think that’s some kind of angelfish?” he said, too unfamiliar to guess what part of the sea it came from.

“Alright…” Serena said, bringing her finger to her chin as she searched the waters above them. “Ooh! What about those?”

She pointed to the waters to the right of Queen Marina’s giant seashell palace, but Erik couldn’t find any fish after scanning the area for a few moments. “Uh, I’m pretty sure there aren’t any fish over there…” he said, confused.

“I’m not looking at any fish, silly!” Serena said with a laugh. “Those creatures with the flippers coming out of their shells, what are those?”

Erik took another look, noticing a pair of green turtles lazily drifting near the rock face bordering the palace. “Serena, those are turtles.”

“Ahhh,” she breathed out, as if uncovering a great mystery. “So those are what turtles actually look like! The old textbook I had on sea life said that you could sometimes find them on beaches, but I’ve never been fortunate enough to see one for myself.”

Erik shrugged. “Well, it’s pretty tough to find that may normal animals out in the wild, what with all the monsters running around everywhere.”

“Yes, I suppose that’s true,” Serena said. “It’s such a shame that peaceful creatures like these can’t live out their lives without being preyed upon by monsters…” Her expression had saddened slightly as she watched the turtles, but she cheered herself up a second later. “Still, it’s nice to see that they have a safe place to stay down here in Nautica.” Something caught Serena’s eye, and she turned on her heel then took a few steps down the hill before pointing at an angle above them again. “Ooh, what are those fish up there?”

She pointed towards a school of multicolored fish, swimming in the open space above Nautica’s center. Though their forked tails threw him off, Erik recognized the narrow, more rounded shape of their bodies almost immediately. “You don’t recognize them?”

Serena glanced at him perplexedly before shaking her head.

Erik stifled a laugh at her own confusion, but couldn’t help a smirk. “Those are snapper fish. We ate a bunch of those back when we were at the Costa Valor, remember?”

Serena visibly wilted at his reminder. “These exact same ones?”

“Nope, the only ones we ate were the red kind, and as far as I know that’s the only place you can get them.”

“Oh dear…” Serena breathed, raising a hand to her chest. “Seeing these fish living their lives undisturbed down here, I can’t help but feel guilty all of a sudden…”

“I mean, it’s not like we’re the only ones who eat them,” Erik said with a dismissive wave. “Even the people who live down here like eating fish too—just look at this guy over here.” He gestured over his shoulder to the ridge behind him, where a green merman stood patiently with a fishing rod, even though being under the sea made the rod seem unnecessary to Erik.

“I suppose…” Serena’s face fell despite her agreement, but she perked right back up again as her attention shifted to the side of the hill. “Oh, I bet that odd one over there could do some fishing itself with that light of theirs, couldn’t it?” She pointed towards a flat clump of blue coral on the path’s rocky edge, where a plump, brownish-orange fish with a fleshy wire attached to its head, sort of like a palm tree but with a bright blue light in place of leaves. The fish seemed to stare at them with a resigned expression, as if were used to being gawked at by curious onlookers.

All of the mirth Erik had tried holding back bubbled to the surface, and he couldn’t help but openly laugh. Serena turned towards him with a grin before asking, “It’s quite the funny-looking one, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, kind of.”

Serena giggled at his agreement, then turned, heading down the hill and surveying the outlandish plants in their surroundings. Erik followed behind her, wondering if he could even put the strange clusters and bunches and glowing flora in the same category as plants above the sea.

In truth, he didn’t find whatever that fish was nearly as funny as how scatterbrained Serena was. It seemed as if Erik could tell her that any of the marine life she pointed out could be as hostile towards humans as any monster, yet she’d probably forget and bounce right back into gawking at whatever caught her eye next.

Once Eleven had finished his business with Queen Marina and started his usual town-combing and people-inquiring and item-shopping business, Serena had dragged Erik along to identify some of Nautica’s animals when she couldn’t get answers from anyone else. He found her sudden enthusiasm towards him slightly flattering, but Erik was no stranger to that, what with people of both genders trying to butter him up over the years.

This time, though, it felt kind of nice. Maybe it was because how much she had already interacted with him over the past month, or how she agreed to help him cope with his turbulent past, even if they hadn’t really started in the wake of Michelle’s death. Erik couldn’t be sure, but he wasn’t too hung up about not knowing why.

Further down the hill, Serena had crouched down beside a strange lump of coral—at least Erik thought it was coral—gingerly poking at one of its bright pink protrusions with a finger. A thin shadow caught her attention as it passed over her, and Serena gasped as she looked up towards its source. “It’s another one of those fish with the silky fins!”

Erik followed the tilt of her head to a slender, greenish-yellow eel with a pair of antennas and threadlike fins that shifted to purple as they tapered, drifting somewhere around the building to their left. He had always thought that eels were separate from fish and was about to ask Serena the difference, but she had already gotten up from her previous spot when he looked back, rounding the corals and ferns to follow in the slender thing’s wake. Chuckling, Erik shook his head and headed down the hill after her.

As he reached the bottom of the slope, the steady sound of conversation in the back of his mind became clear, and Erik turned in its direction towards the city’s item store. Eleven was inside the blue dome talking to the mermaid shopkeep, while Veronica and Sylvando were in conversation with a long-haired mermaid with glasses just outside the shop’s entrance. Veronica’s eyes wandered around the plants nestled between the building and the hill as Sylvando spoke to the mermaid, but they immediately locked onto Erik’s as he entered her vision.

Erik held Veronica’s gaze for a few lengthy seconds, her eyes narrowing slightly as if she was wary of him up to no good. Her mouth parted slightly, and Erik mentally prepared himself for Veronica to sling a silly comment his way, until a call rang from behind him.

“Erik! Come quickly! There’s something you have to see!”

He looked over his shoulder to find Serena crouched at the opposite end of the town center. She was looking over her own shoulder back at him, but was apparently inspecting something in the ferns next to the weapon shop.

“Okay!” Erik called back, not before sparing another glance at Veronica. Her eyes had softened as she looked up at the mermaid, and Erik thought he could make out a slight curl of her lips, but wasn’t in the mood to check. Scratching at his neck, Erik made his way towards Serena.

As he got closer, Erik realized that she wasn’t looking into the ferns themselves, but instead a hole in the ground nearly a dozen feet wide. Serena was on all fours now, peeking out over the edge of the opening at something far below.

“What happened to that fish?” Erik asked when he came up beside her.

Serena’s cheerfulness was subdued, and she looked up at him with a knowing smile. “It swam away from me down into this hole,” she said, her tone suddenly shifting to a playful one, “but I think you might find what’s down there rather interesting.”

“And what’s that?” Erik asked as he crouched in front of the hole and peeked over. Among the natural greens and bright red light and subdued blues and black of the cavern, he recognized the yellow glint of gold almost instantly. 

An open sea chest sat against against a natural pillar, with a heaping mound of gold coins resting within. A few other similarly-colored trinkets were nestled atop the pile as well—a crown, a small statue, some kind of chalice, a fancy sword, a necklace—

Mia’s cursed pendant dangled from the side of the chest.

Erik’s heart nearly stopped, and he barely noticed his involuntary stumble backwards until he could suddenly feel the crushed ferns under his rear. His ears could hear Serena’s sudden cries, but his head couldn’t process them, muffled like they were as if he was submerged underwater without any magic.

Erik continued to lean backwards for a few seconds, his breaths coming as fast as his suddenly pounding heart. The image of that necklace was vivid in his mind’s eye, and Erik squeezed his eyes shut in an attempt to visualize something else. Serena’s hand pulling on his shoulder reminded him of her presence next to him, and Erik forced himself to speak. “Serena,” he said with a trembling voice, “please tell me you don’t see any red gems down in that chest.”

Serena’s hand falling from his shoulder was followed by a shuffling sound, and her glum voice followed soon after. “No.”

He didn’t doubt Serena’s words, but a part of Erik _needed_ to be sure that was the case. He gradually opened his eyes, avoiding Serena’s gaze, and leaned forward until he was on his knees. Slowly, he sidled forward through the ferns until he could just barely see over the edge of the opening. Heart still hammering, Erik tilted his upper body downward until the chest came into view.

Erik’s eyes furiously glanced around the chest’s contents and the surrounding area, but he found nothing out of the ordinary save the bright red light emanating from a glowing plant. The pendant was nowhere to be found.

Relief washed over Erik has he sighed deeply, leaning back until he sat on his knees. He had imagined the entire thing, probably thanks to that plant sitting in the corner of that cave. Then again, when he thought back to Mia and her fixations on getting rich somehow, that stupid pendant was probably never far behind in sequence.

“Erik,” Serena began, pulling his attention to her deeply concerned gaze, “are you alright?”

He managed a weak nod. “Yeah, I think so.” 

Serena nodded back, before hesitantly glancing towards the other side of the clearing. Erik followed with his own eyes, finding her sister and Sylvando still talking with the mermaid outside of the item shop. Nobody else seemed to have noticed them sitting there.

Erik turned back to Serena at the same time she did him, but she pointedly looked away, her eyes half-lidded as they stared down at her folded hands atop her lap. Silence stretched between them for a few seconds.

“Um…” Serena finally began, “do you mind if I ask why you reacted so strongly?”

_Red was Mia’s favorite color_, but he stopped himself before the paltry lie could even escape his mouth. She had willingly agreed to shoulder his worries, and he at least owed her his honesty for that—but now that he had stopped himself he couldn’t find the right words. “I… It’s complicated,” he said, raising a hand to his forehead. “I’ll tell you about it later.”

“Okay,” Serena replied, her voice having dropped to a murmur. Dragging him down here for a friendly surprise just for him to be scared stiff at a pile of gold seemed to be the thing that finally burst Serena’s cheerful bubble, and Erik could tell there probably wasn’t going to be a way to bring it back. Erik thought he should be sad as well, but all he could feel was a smoldering frustration.

“Erik…” Serena began again, “have you ever wondered as to why you’re so reluctant to share your past?”

That was something he had asked himself plenty of times before, but he had given up finding an answer a long time ago. He tried searching his mind, hoping that his different circumstances would give him an answer, but came up with nothing. Erik let out a weary sigh. “I wish I knew.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> <strike>you ever get so attached to how a certain narrative technique is intended to work in your story that you forget that you could probably take a really long-winded scene and turn it into its own chapter so that it fits better into how the entire thing is structured? (yes, I basically wrote two chapters at once, so there won't be nearly as long of a wait for the next one)</strike>  
[UPDATE 21 October 2020: this actually happened with _every_ flashback I wrote for Act I, save (REDACTED), lmao]
> 
> No? Ever spend two hours looking into what kind of real life fish a virtual one is based on so that you can adhere to somewhat-unnecessary standards of realism?
> 
> No? Good. Worldbuilding disease sucks, don't catch it.
> 
> Anyway, that sea chest is actually situated on the other end of that cave in-game (and guarded by one of those weird eel-fish-things), but it's right under that hole since nobody else would notice otherwise.


	11. Red Heliodor Remembrance

_Raucous laughter erupted from the dining table on the upper floor of the inn, the other three thieves leaning back in their seats or dropping their fists on the table in their reactions to Derk’s joke. Erik usually found his partner’s jokes to be hit-or-miss—though his comparison of noblemen to goodybags wasn’t too far off the mark—but Erik’s tumbling thoughts made it hard for him to share his accomplices’ merriment._

_And a part of Erik thought that he _should_ feel the same as them. Despite the insane danger of the job, they had gotten away with a great score that evening. Ruby, though she was always grumpy when people caused a racket in her inn, had let them at her special keg of ale at promises of more money, so the drinks were freely flowing. He should be just as happy, filling himself with ale and laughing it up at their jeers for the nobility._

_Instead, he sat at a far end of the table cleaning his dagger, his first mug of ale barely touched as his accomplice’s high spirits dimly echoed in his head. At the front, memories of the Vikings and his sister churned constantly, and Erik struggled to force them back into the holes he had spent the past four years digging._

_Nearly four hours ago, as the drooping sun began giving way to night, Erik, Derk, and three other rogues whose names he couldn’t remember—a roughneck, a mustached man dressed in green with a black coif, and a white-haired guy wearing a yellow tunic over a black shirt—had made their way into Heliodor Castle, but not among crowds of nobility entering through the front for the occasion._

_It was the anniversary of Heliodor’s founding some ridiculous number of years ago, and a huge ball was held every year on this day to celebrate. Though festivities were held all throughout the well-to-do areas of the city, the real place to be was in the castle, where all of the kingdom’s upper crust attended. Having to please all those rich people in one place demanded a lot of manpower—cooks, servants, entertainers, and whatnot—and if there was one role that felt the strain the most, it was the city watch. Nearly every guardsman who wasn’t away from the capital was at the ball, and that included whisking away guards stationed in “unessential positions.”_

_And in this case, “unessential” included keeping watch on their tightly-locked dungeons._

_They had ran into a grand total of four guards in the depths of the castle, which, conveniently, was where Heliodor’s treasure vault was located. Erik, Black Hood, and White Hair had snuck into the castle by way of its sewers, having to climb up a huge cliff in the shadows of Heliodor’s foothills using a set of ropes strung up by their rock-climbing roughneck. Once they had made their way into the dungeons and silenced the few guys that were down there, Erik jimmied the vault open and helped the other two get started with the pilfering._

_He wasn’t there just to help with the stealing proper, though—after they had gotten the essentials stowed away, Erik had to get dressed for the occasion as well. He donned a sharply-dressed servant’s suit that had been prepared solely for that evening, and rendezvoused with Derk upstairs as his partner was already playing the part of a server. Together, they made sure that the lower west wing of the castle was clear of any suspicious onlookers so White Hair and Black Hood could get into their own disguises and make their way to their exit unhampered. _

_The outer wall of the small upper courtyard was within a blind spot of the guard towers on that side of the castle, and the roughneck had left another rope waiting for them. Once they were on the other side and on the castle grounds proper, their accomplices’ guardsmen outfits let them “arrest” him and Derk, and they were “escorted” down into the dungeons without so much as ringing an alarm, letting them all leave the castle the way they came, few questions asked._

_Aside from some minor complications that could have turned things south quick, the entire scheme had gone off as cleanly as it could be. The guy who hired them already had their payment ready when they made it back downtown, and it was split between the five of them without any disagreements. A fiasco would probably flare up tomorrow when the kingdom realized they had been robbed right under their noses, but Erik and Derk had plans to make themselves scarce before the sun rose again. Things had gone pretty much perfectly._

_And yet sitting here now, his partners-in-crime laughing it up while he stewed his own unease, Erik couldn’t help but feel more out of place than he ever had been since taking up these capers._

_Erik stared into the polished steel of his trusty dagger, the clear candlelit reflection of his sullen face marking it as clean. Reflexively, he flipped it in his hand to check the other side despite knowing he had polished before; and for a moment, the face that looked back at him was Mia’s. Even if it wasn’t real, just seeing her signature _I’m-up-to-some-nonsense_ grin was enough to agitate the emotions tossing and turning in his chest._

_He started as laughter burst from beside him once again, and the table rattled as his accomplices shook the table in their rowdiness. He glanced back at the metal’s surface to find his face reflected back at him once more. With nothing left to clean, Erik sighed and sheathed his dagger, placing it on the table as he returned his attention to the present._

_Black Hood, sitting on the bench to Erik’s right, wiped a tear from his eye, his face already tinged pink and tipsy. “I tell ya lads—the nobility bein’ more refined than us is a big dollop of horse manure. Those people are more greedy than a penny pincher—and I ain’t talkin’ about personality, mind you.”_

_The roughneck, seated on the same bench as Black Hood, had removed his brown horned mask, leaving his pudgy face and paltry patch of brown hair atop his head on display. Erik wasn’t much for judging people by appearances, especially in this line of work, but seeing that tiny bit of hair was jarring, even more than when he had seen the guy’s face for the first time when he was in his guard disguise. The roughneck nodded his head in agreement with Black Hood. “Oh boy, Green, ain’t that the truth! Them nobles might seem all nice an’ proper on the outside wiv their balls and crap, but if ya open ‘em up and see ‘em for real, they’re probably just as rotten as a sewer.” He tipped himself backwards as he took a pull from his mug._

_Watching the roughneck take a long gulp of his drink reminded Erik of his own, lying dormant on the table for Goddess knows how long. He took a short sip, the lukewarm bitterness sloshing down his throat making him reconsider, and Erik placed his mug back on the table for it to languish even more._

_Erik felt a nudge on his arm from his left, and he raised his head to a smiling Derk. “Nice to see you back in the land of the livin’, bud.”_

_He nodded, less in agreement than to keep his partner from asking too many questions, the last thing his muddled thoughts needed. Derk returned his attention to the conversation, falling back into his usual charming and wisecracking with their accomplices like before. Erik simply listened in, trying to use the rowdy conversation as a screen over his thoughts, cobbling together paltry responses to every other comment but never voicing them—especially since half of them were responding to their accomplices’ ignorance. After a few minutes, things drifted into a discussion over which hapless worker they had encountered would’ve been the easiest to con._

_“Awright then, whaddabout that bloke by the bushes who was too deaf to hear the janglin’ of our score when we was comin’ down?” the roughneck asked._

_“Blimey, Gus, you know that ‘alf of ‘eliodor’s guards probably couldn’t recognize a trap even if one beat ‘em on top of a ‘ead with a stick!” said Green._

_“Well, you asked for who’d the easiest to con, so who else was I s’pposed to pick?” Fergus asked emphatically. “One of the fools wastin’ away in a dungeon suite?”_

_“Someone who was actually _working_ at bein’ a pet for the nobility, ya goof!” _

_White Hair, seated beside Derk, chuckled at Fergus and Green’s short squabble. “Let’s be real lads, most of those guards ain’t worth a quarter of what the kingdom’s payin’ ‘em. I coulda probably ran off with a whole turkey in that getup and none of ‘em would’ve suspected a thing.”_

_Fergus and Green guffawed at White Hair’s comment. “Ya got that right there, Trey!” Fergus agreed. “I bet I coulda jes dressed up as one ‘o them petty nobles an’ walked out with the entire banquet!”_

_“Ya probably could’ve walked out with the treasure, too,” Green said. “If I knew things were gonna be that simple, I would’ve done this job with a ‘and tied behind my back.” _

_“Oh please,” said Trey with a dismissive wave. “I could’ve done this job blindfolded, help or no help.”_

_“Dunno about that one, mate,” Derk chimed in. “Too many movin’ parts in that castle would make plenty of opportunity for somethin’ to blindside you.”_

_“You kidding? Those goofy-lookin’ buckets on their heads are practically blindfolds already! All you need is one of those guard uniforms and a speck of charisma and you could get half of the people in the castle around your thumb in a heartbeat.” Trey adopted a self-satisfied smile. “I could just scream about some kinda crisis off over yonder and I’d have plenty of time to get everything together and go in the chaos.”_

_“Oh yeah? An’ what makes you so sure of that?” asked Green._

_“Well, if it weren’t obvious to any of ya, I think I was the best performer in this here scheme, if I do say so myself,” Trey said, pointing a self-assured finger at himself. “I cleaned out my spot of the vault the quickest, I moved the quickest, and I got our escape rope all tied in place lickety-split.”_

_“An’ who was the one who ‘ad the other end of that rope waitin’ for ya, eh?” Fergus interjected. “Or any ‘o the other ropes that got yerself up that cliff and into the castle in the first place?”_

_“I’ve known about those trees stickin’ out on that cliff for who knows how long now, mate! If I knew the castle would be as deserted as it was tonight, I woulda broken in a long time ago!”_

_“Yeah, and probably end up tossed in a cell just like any other crazy bloke,” Green scoffed, drawing a laugh from Fergus at his jeer._

_One of Erik’s eyebrows seemed to raise on its own at the exchange. Had any of these guys ever gotten their egos checked? He spoke up for the first time in what felt like ages. “Why the heck are any of you guys arguing over who did the most for this job?”_

_Four sets of eyes immediately turned on Erik—and any lingering sense of camaraderie seemed to drain from the room in that instant. After a moment of silence, Fergus’s peeved voice was the first to respond to Erik’s question. “Oi, wot’s that s’pposed to mean?”_

_Erik rolled his eyes. “It means exactly what it means. None of us here should be arguing over the who was the most useful when the guy who was is right here,” he said, gesturing towards Derk. “Derk here caught wind of the tip-off for this scheme, he got us a map of that maze of a sewer, and he wheeled you three into this. He even went out of his way to get properly tailored suits for us to blend in at the banquet! If there’s anyone who should be bragging about being the most important person for this job, it’s him.”_

_Derk cheerily ran a hand through his hair at Erik’s praise. “Aw, shucks, Erik—you’re too kind.”_

_Erik didn’t bother to respond. He should have been gratified by his friend’s thanks, but his steady unease still kept him from anything resembling a good mood. Their partners-in-crime sat in stunned silence at Erik’s emphatic vouching for Derk, a torrent of emotions washing over each of their faces in the space of a few seconds._

_Green’s storm was the first to settle as his eyes narrowed in contempt, and he snorted seconds later. “An’ who do you think you are, kid, loungin’ over there an’ prattlin’ like you weren’t dead weight the entire job?”_

_“What do you mean, ‘dead weight?’” Erik asked. “If it weren’t for me, you guys wouldn’t have been able to get into that dumb vault in the first place!”_

_“If it _weren’t_ for you,” Green snapped back, “we’d ‘ave gotten this job done clean without adding a few more gray ‘airs to me ‘ead!”_

_“This job _was_ done cleanly,” Erik responded, reaching down to jingle the sack of gold coins sitting by his stool. “Nobody at that blasted party suspected anything out of the ordinary from us!”_

_Trey’s snide laugh cut off Green’s retort. “Oh, that’s rich, coming from you,” the white-haired man said. “You really expect us to believe that you really weren’t a hair away from sendin’ the whole scheme to hell with all the slip-ups you were making?” Trey continued before Erik could respond, “I’ve heard people call you the fastest lockpick ‘round these parts, but I’ve seen hammerhoods with defter hands than yours!”_

_Erik’s neck began to itch, but he resisted the urge to scratch at it. “I—I was having an off day.”_

_“Really now? Does havin’ an off day explain you gettin’ the willies from gold all of a sudden? I had finished stashin’ away the goods long before anyone else and found you starin’ at those damn dishes as if they were gonna bite you!”_

_“Those things were—”_

_“Yeah, I saw that!” Green confirmed. “‘E pulled that stunt when we were topside gettin’ out of there, too! We were all out in the courtyard ready to go, but his pal ‘ere—” he said with a gesture towards Derk, “—’ad to practically drag ‘im away from starin’ at whatever snootiness was goin’ on in the bloody banquet hall!”_

_“You wot!?” Fergus blurted, slamming a fist down on the table before staring daggers at Erik. “Were ya tryin’ to get us all gutted or somethin’!?”_

_“N-no, I wasn’t!” Erik stammered, looking away as his prickling nervousness beginning to spread down his spine. “I just—something in the ballroom caught my attention, and I couldn’t focus on anything else for a few seconds.” Trey’s snickering at his excuse brought his eyes to the white-haired man’s gleeful look, and Erik’s smoldering anger began to rise._

_“I can’t believe this kid—” Green began, “—you’re telling me that you stopped dead ‘cuz somethin’ in the middle of a pack of vultures caught your attention? What a load of ‘ogwash!”_

_Trey halted his bout of laughter to speak up. “Well, Green, based on what I heard, there was somethin’ kinda interestin’ goin’ on in there when we were leavin’, dependin’ on how much of a sap you are. One of those stinkin’ noblemen had gone and finished some silly proposal to the lady, and the whole room was clappin’ it up!” He turned his gaze onto Erik with a sneer. “I bet you thought that display was touching, eh, lover boy?”_

_Erik heard a chuckle directly from his left, and he glanced at Derk to find him conspicuously covering his mouth, eyes wide as if he had been caught in the midst of mischief by his mother. “What the hell makes you think that I care anything about peeping into other people’s love lives?” Erik asked._

_“Well, thanks to your pal’s reaction, I think that’s everythin’ I need to think that you do,” Trey said, adopting a self-satisfied look._

_Erik groaned in frustration. He opened his mouth to speak, but Green was quicker. “Ah, give the kid a break,” he said, waving a hand dismissively and sneering. “I bet ‘e just wanted a chance to play at being a nobleman ‘imself, what with ‘im talkin’ about ‘properly tailored suits’ and all.”_

_Erik’s mind desperately searched for the words to defend himself, but could only find glimpses of his childhood waiting for him. A tear began to well up in one eye, and he clenched both shut._

_“Come on lads, that’s enough.” Derk spoke up. “Let’s all just go back to enjoyin’ our drinks, alright?” Erik had to wrestle against the urge to scream at his partner._

_“Ah, shaddup, ya blighter,” Fergus said. “You’re probably jes as bad as the kid ‘ere. I bet ya shoehorned Green and Trey here into being soldiers jes so you two could play at bein’ refined for a few minutes. Makes me sick, the egos from people like ya. You two probably ain’t even that good at bein’ theives, just a couple of idiot posers who like to pretend they’re smarter an’ better lookin’ than they actually are!”_

_Fergus’s words cut deep, and Erik wrenched his eyes open as he momentarily gained a vengeful confidence. “At least the rest of us don’t look like a pig that has some leftover mud from their pen!”_

_“Nice choice of insult, mate, as if I ain’t ‘eard it a million times over now!” Fergus retorted, placing a hand protectively atop his clump of hair. “I’ll ‘ave ya know that I’ve made peace with ‘ow I look, and ya can’t say anyfin’ that’ll change that!”_

_The petulance of the roughneck’s words defied their meaning, and Erik nearly called him out until Green beat him to the punch again. “Awww, look at what we did mates, the poor kid’s crying,” he sneered. “Guess you’re all sad ‘cuz you’ve finally been caught in your act, eh? Serves you right.”_

_Erik’s frustration goaded him to blurt another retort, but his itching nervousness had already spread across his entire body. He shot up from his stool without taking his eyes from Green, his tears abruptly falling from his face in the process._

_“Ohoho, is that at challenge I see here?” Erik’s gaze snapped towards Trey as he flashed a wicked grin. “C’mon then, lad. I’ll admit you lived up to the rumors when you took down those guards, but let’s see how good of a scrapper the hedgehog really is against someone with more than half a brain.”_

_Erik balled his fists as his frustration finally gave way to anger. He surveyed the eyes of each of the other three rogues for a few seconds, from Trey’s smug self-assured sneer to Fergus’s face scrunched in anticipation to Green’s warily narrowed eyes. Erik could see a hesitancy behind Green’s, and his mind settled on who would be the first to get it. Something in his gaze seemed to confirm this to the black-coifed man, and Erik could see the movement of his arms under the table as he reached for something._

_“Erik…” He glanced in the direction of Derk’s voice, his partner’s pained expression already hinting Erik into his next words. “Don’t do this, mate.”_

_Erik stared into the eyes of his partner for a moment before wrenching them back at Green. The rogue’s eyes were completely unhinged now, wavering between holding Erik’s gaze and nervously glancing in Trey’s direction. In a twisted way, the man’s fear only stoked Erik’s anger, and a part of him _knew_ he could take on Green and the other two if he indulged in it._

_But then what would that make him?_

_At that thought, Erik’s fury immediately dissolved, and all he was left with was the prickles of his frustration. He unclenched his fists, rounding the table with a wide berth around Derk and Trey, and stomped down the steps without a word. Laughter cascaded to his ears as soon as he reached the bottom floor, and more tears began to well up in his eyes._

_Ruby’s voice called out to him before he even crossed the threshold into the foyer. “You boys lookin’ for more drinks or someth—Erik? Where you goin’? Erik!” He was striding out of the door and was headed west by the time she had finished. Erik hunched his head towards the cobblestones, and his legs seemed to work on their own, carrying him across the single lengthy thoroughfare that was downtown Heliodor. Before he knew it, the cobbles gave way to uneven stone as he entered the cave leaving town, and then his footfalls hollowed out upon wooden scaffolding as he stepped out under the open night sky._

_His legs no longer moving on their own, Erik stumbled towards the crumbled rock face the scaffolding was held against and slumped against the cold, uneven surface. By now his tears were fully flowing, and with the merciful absence of a watchful guard, Erik did nothing to hold back the stream._

_He should have never agreed to this job. He should have backed out as soon as he knew they were going to Heliodor Castle, because of what awaited him there. When Derk had given him details of the job, he didn’t even need to guess that it was there: Mia had mentioned it in the weeks leading up to the incident, and he grew a niggling fear that he would find the thing right there in the vault. Even when it wasn’t there, Erik found himself questioning what he was even doing there, could barely bring himself to touch any of the golden relics gathering dust, out of some deep-seated paranoia of sharing the same fate as her._

_For a few short minutes Erik thought that maybe she was wrong in guessing about something thousands of miles away, but when Mia set her sights on something, she knew how to find where it was. And then, in a passing glance as he stood watch at the mouth of the castle’s western wing, he saw it._

_Across the banquet hall, sitting on display between a golden tiara and a black sword and shield was a glowing sphere, pulsating with a crisp crimson light._

_Erik could still remember feeling unable to tear his eyes away from the Orb, even with the joyful applause that had erupted at the same time. He had heard cheers of congratulations for someone accepting a proposal of marriage, but there was no way he could have processed it as the floodgates of his mind burst open then, the pictures of those days endlessly churning in his head._

_Sure, he could have told the others why he had really frozen up. Maybe one of them would have understood him. But looking as big of a fool as he was then, no doubt they would have just tore into him even more, and that would have just made him even more furious._

_The Vikings had tried to stoke that fury within him, growing up under their forceful care. In some twisted way, they had control over theirs enough for them to launch into a frenzy at will during their raids on the northern reaches of Erdrea, but Erik had always known that was never something he wanted to force on himself. That _wasn’t_ him, and yet for a moment, when he was ready to swing at Green, Erik thought he could feel a similar anger. A part of him wanted to believe that it was reserved solely for the other thieves, but when he came to the realization of what it echoed, he couldn’t be sure._

_If his head was teetering over the edge before, now it had fully fallen off. His ruminations along with the night’s events had unraveled all the delicate wrappings Erik had around his past, and jumbles of foul memories—some of them as recent as minutes ago—flashed in his mind’s eye. He felt angry and frustrated and guilty, and Erik began to tremble as they clashed within his chest._

_When his tears began to dry up as he calmed down, Erik sidled towards the wooden railing strung together at the edge of the scaffolding and looked out over the foothills unrolling far below him. No evening wind blew and no clouds covered the night sky, yet Erik felt a chill as he contemplated everything. There were too many questions, but he was too frazzled, too afraid to even begin trying to answer them. _

_After some time, heavy footfalls began to echo towards Erik from the cave behind him. When they grew close, a timid voice called out to him. “Erik…you alright, bud?” _

_Erik wiped a hand over his face before turning around. Derk stood at the mouth of the cave, the upper half of his body bathed in the shadows of the rocky roof. He had put on his brown traveling cloak, and Erik’s drawstring bag hung from his shoulder along with his own sack._

_“I’m fine,” Erik said, hoping the weariness in his voice wasn’t visible on his face._

_Derk, breathing out in relief, didn’t seem to notice. “Jeez, Erik, I—I didn’t mean to laugh at you there, it’s just, I—”_

_“Couldn’t help it, right?” Erik finished. He sighed. “Don’t worry about it. I know your sense of humor gets the best of you sometimes.”_

_Derk let out a nervous chuckle. “Right…” he breathed. “Sorry about that, mate.”_

_“It’s cool.”_

_An awkward silence stretched between them._

_“Erik…you wanna talk about what happened back there?” Derk asked._

_Knowing his partner didn’t intend to laugh didn’t dull the sting of his actions. Erik shook his head._

_“Ah, well, that’s okay then,” Derk said, disappointment flashing on his face for a moment. “Anyway, I managed to snag your bag when I got out of Ruby’s place. Tossed your dagger in here too, but one o’ those jerks nabbed your gold before I could get me ‘ands on it. You want to go back for it?”_

_“Eh, let ‘em keep it,” Erik said with a wave of his hand. “We can just pinch some more wherever we go next.” Not to mention that Erik was feeling pretty averse to anything having to do with gold at the moment._

_Derk chuckled at his assurance. “You’re right about that, mate.” He made his way to the railing beside Erik, craning his neck up towards the sky. “Guess we should be making our way to the coast soon, eh? Hopefully the captain’ll be fine with us ‘avin’ an early departure. Where do you want to ‘ead next? Costa Valor?”_

_Erik followed his partner’s gaze towards the sea of the night sky, where the silver crescent of the moon solemnly hung among the stars. “Doesn’t matter—as long as it’s somewhere far away from here.”  
_


	12. Navis Interludium

“…but even after being told the truth of his parentage, the king would not allow him to be married to the princess. But, he remained steadfast, and after pouring out his heart the next day as the arranged marriage was to be consummated, the king had a change of heart. The guardsman was rightfully granted the hand of the princess he had traveled alongside for so long, and they lived happily ever after.”

Finished with her tale, Serena sighed deeply to catch her breath after recounting it for so long. She adopted an eager smile as she turned to face Erik, sitting down right beside her. “Well, how was that one?”

Erik shuffled his legs as he adjusted his back against the solid wooden guardrail surrounding the _Stallion_’s helm. Though it was rather uncomfortable compared to their usual positions sitting on one of the stairs to the upper deck, the unbroken wood sheltered them from the frigid winds blowing from the tundras to the north, not to mention it was easier for Erik to take the helm in case something unexpected happened. He titled his head in thought for a moment before shrugging. “Eh, that one was okay.”

“Just ‘okay’ again!?” Serena snapped, not holding back her petulance. “You said that about two I told you before the last one!”

Erik raised a hand in protest. “I mean, I kinda liked this one, but I don’t know about that ending—seems like they went through a heck of a lot of effort to get that other king’s approval. Couldn’t they just have ran off on their own or something?”

“They _could_ have, but then the ending wouldn’t be as happy. The hero’s marriage wouldn’t be considered legitimate, nor would the prince have learned his lesson.”

“I wonder who that reminds us of,” Erik muttered with a chuckle, drawing one from Serena before he continued. “I guess you’re right, but I don’t know…I still think leaving things just at ‘happily ever after’ is kind of lame.”

“What would you have them do if you were the author, then?”

“Well, couldn’t the guard and the princess have just…actually done something instead of just having things end vaguely like that? They’re in a huge church with a bunch of fancy decor, right? Why not have it end on a party or something?”

Serena tilted her head, trying to picture what she remembered what the cathedral was described as without the aid of the book itself. “Hmmm…I suppose…” In her mind’s eye, she could see teal-tiled steps leading onto an altar, flanked by candles and intricately carved statues, light shining from multicolored stained glass windows at its rear. And standing at its center would be—

In place of the princess and hero, Serena saw herself and Erik; him dressed in a dapper tuxedo that would draw even Sylvando’s ire, and her in a matching gown, it’s bodice laced in the fashion of flower petals, with a frilled skirt held up by Erik as they gently waltzed around the altar…

Serena released a deeply delighted sigh, closing her eyes for a moment as she savored the picture in her memory. “Actually…that would be absolutely perfect,” she breathed, her voice evoking the loveliness of her dream.

Erik chuckled again. “Nice to see that whoever wrote this story could learn a thing or two from someone who doesn’t have a clue about these things.”

“Yes…” Serena idly responded. “Erik, wouldn’t you just _love_ to have the chance to dance in a ball in such a wonderful setting with someone dear to your heart?” she asked, opening her eyes and looking at him expectantly.

“I don’t know, maybe,” he promptly replied, eyes closed as he stretched out his limbs. Serena deflated at Erik’s nonchalance, but this was far from the first time that one of her romantic nudges had sailed right over his head. A moment later, Erik’s face lit up in realization, and he nervously placed a hand on his neck. “Funny you should mention balls though, Rena—I actually ended up robbing a ball at Heliodor Castle at some point.”

The pulse of pride Serena felt at Erik’s new nickname for her masked her disappointment, but dismay still poked through. “Oh my—really?”

Erik smiled sheepishly at her reaction. “Yep. I’m pretty sure it was one of the last few big schemes I took part in before I got tossed into one of their cells a while later. Kind of a long story, though…”

A part of Serena wanted to chide Erik for his disturbance of such a hallowed affair, but another didn’t want to pass up the opportunity to hear what it would be like in his own words. The latter desire won out almost instantly, and she nodded at him to continue. “Go on.”

“Okay, so—Derk and I had been laying low like the rest of the thieves in town since it was getting close to the anniversary of Heliodor’s founding, and the city watch was cracking down hard on any kind of mischief going on around the city. Neither of us expected anything to come along with all the people getting trussed up, but Derk caught wind of some eccentric collector looking for some folks willing to help him get a much closer look at some of the trinkets the kingdom had hoarded away. It took Derk a while to track him down, but…”

As Erik recounted their preparations for their caper, Serena’s mind couldn’t help but wander and think about how much things had progressed since the party had left Nautica. They had received guidance from Queen Marina to head for the shining pillar of light nestled off the western coast of Erdrea; but thanks to Eleven’s compulsive wanderlust, they had been sailing between the islands scattered around the world for ten days. Humorously enough, by then it should have gone up to eleven as they sailed from the solitary Insula Occidentalis towards the island closet to their objective. Other than the few times they had Zoomed to the Strand for a launching point or Lonalulu to rest and get supplies, plus return a carved figurine they had found on the slime-filled Orientalis, most of the past two weeks had been spent on the _Salty Stallion_.

Since monster attacks weren’t nearly as common on the sea than land, Serena had expected the times between islands to be dull, but the ample time the party had to chat and bond with each other provided more than enough enjoyment during the lengthy interludes. All the times she and Sylvando played their instruments for the party almost always had a degree of hilarity to it, since Rab’s tendency to sing whatever came to his mind brought the ire of Erik and Veronica, one of the few things those two seemed to agree upon. Though the party’s diet was mostly made of Lonalulan seafood, Serena and Sylvando and Jade made the most of it, trying out all the recipes they could learn whenever they spent the night at the seaside town, and Serena had even convinced Erik to lend a hand once or twice.

And even without many chances to develop their battle skills, both her and Erik had learned a handful of new things in that time. Jade’s spear training grew more rigorous as they moved towards faster drills to help with Serena’s sluggish reaction times, but she struggled forward, knowing it would make her a stronger person. Erik, still sour over his loss at Octagonia, had tried his hand at a rematch with Jade at some point and ended up defeated once again, but far from soundly that time around. Fortunately, Jade and Rab were astute enough fighters to see some of the holes poking through his scrappy style and gave him some pointers to patch those up. Outside of fighting, Erik had gotten Sylvando and Dave to teach him how to maintain and sail the _Stallion_ over those first few days, and now he had taken charge of sailing the ship at night to alleviate the shipmasters.

That proved to be the best occurrence by far, since anything else that happened over the past ten days paled compared to the private times she and Erik had together while the others were asleep.

The first five or so days were turbulent as they worked through Erik’s frayed emotions, since relating his experiences with his sister under the Vikings brought him to tears almost every time. Talking of Mia’s impishly silly habits and the cheerful times they shared always brought a smile to Erik’s face, but the harshness of the Vikings overshadowing everything was deeply wounding, and that confluence seemed to summon forth an outpouring of emotion for Erik. The walls of reluctance he raised around others were lowered whenever it was just him and Serena, and for a time she thought there would be no end to his weeping.

Eventually though, his reservoir seemed to dry up as his spirits improved, and their times hiding away became even more lovely as they moved onto happier topics. Erik began to describe his thieving escapades and strange experiences in his travels, and though Serena could notice a lingering unease as he recounted his capers, Serena found herself fascinated by the intricacies that went into thievery. She was still unsure how to feel about the morality of it all, but it never seemed as if Erik was a thief for the sake of the plundering, not to mention the things he had learned had already provided plenty of benefits for the party.

And thankfully Serena herself had a chance to speak at length as well—Erik returned the same attention she gave to him as she talked about her life back home in Arboria or the art of harpistry or the mechanics of magic. Best of all, he was even willing to listen to the myriad of fairy tales and romances she had managed to memorize over the years! Serena had thought his natural inclinations would’ve made it difficult for him to grasp their appeal—especially with his complete obliviousness to hints at her affection—but it seemed that he had developed an appreciation for the stories somehow, be it her enthusiasm or something else. She was determined to get Erik to fully enjoy them, and once he was just as moved as her by those stories, her romantic advances would become more apparent to him.

Things were certainly looking good for them so far…but there were a couple lingering issues within in the margins of their relationship. For one, Erik seemed to be completely against talking about how or why Mia passed away. Serena was reluctant to ask and bring those awful memories upon himself again, especially since their conversations had grown so delightful, yet she couldn’t shake the feeling that it was something that weighed upon him the most.

And as for herself, Serena felt somewhat misguided about the entire affair: she was wholly committed to helping Erik overcome his worries, hopefully out of the benevolence in her heart, but since her ultimate goal was to get Erik to love her in return, how would he react when he learned of it? He seemed to be willing fully to open himself up to only her, and Serena took pleasure in that, but didn’t that make her selfish, in a sense?

_No, of course not._ The answer rang in her head almost immediately in the wake of her question. She knew the love blooming in her heart was genuine, and once Serena had helped Erik make peace with himself, he wouldn’t even see it in the same light, and they would be able to enjoy a wonderful, romantically-fulfilling relationship.

Satisfied with her conclusion, Serena extracted herself from her thoughts and returned her full attention to Erik as his tale moved to the infiltration of Heliodor Castle.

“…after everyone had gotten up the cliff, we took a break before heading into the sewers. It’s funny—compared to how much trouble El and I went through trying to sneak out of there a month ago, the map probably wasn’t needed since it was completely empty; but nobody wanted to muck around down there for long. I think we were through there in what, five or six minutes? Probably could have done it faster, but that’s kind of hard when you’re all worn out from struggling up a bunch of ropes and vines.

“When we made it to the dungeons, that’s when the danger really began. There were only four guards for the four of us, but only two of us were any good at fighting, and it takes only one guard to run off and bring the entire hornets’ nest down on us.

“But, since we knew that the guys down there would be a skeleton crew, we bet that the usual dungeon guards would be scattered around the castle with a bunch of fresh-faced recruits in their place. Who’d be crazy enough to try robbing the castle with the most snobbish guards in the entire world on the night when they’d all be stationed there, right?” Erik chuckled at his thought before continuing.

“The first guy hanging by the stairs was an easy picking—we just lured him far enough down the stairs out of the reach of the others with some irksome noise, then we all jumped him. Once they were down, we managed to hit two birds with one stone when Derk’s guard voice imitation got the next two in line to follow after their buddy. The last guard was more than suspicious by then, but since he was probably eager to do something other than sitting around all night, we didn’t even need to do anything else to get him to follow us.”

“Hmhm, the more I hear of you talk of outsmarting Heliodor’s guards, the less I wonder how much fortune played a part in us escaping them so easily at Dundrasil,” Serena said.

“You kidding?” Erik said with a wave of his hand. “They may have the numbers, and a few of them might get some special training over in Puerto Valor, but common sense doesn’t seem to be a priority over there. If it weren’t for Hendrik keeping them in line that night, we probably could’ve gotten away as soon as El and Jade fell into the river.

“Anyway—taking care of the guards is where things got tricky for everyone. Derk had to unpack our suits carefully so they were just as pristine as the real servants, the others had to scrounge around the knocked out guards to see what uniforms fit them best, and I had to pick the vault door.”

Erik paused for a moment, his smile shrinking slightly as his eyes narrowed. “Pretty sure it gave me a bit of trouble, since the others ended up with everything ready to go before me, but I got it open eventually. We already had a good idea what was in there from the guy who tipped us off, but they only wanted a few specific things: jewelery from past kings, a couple of cases of precious gems, an old painting, and a handful of…” He trailed off, and his face fell with the drooping of his head.

Serena had seen where this went plenty of times over the past two weeks, and she perked up immediately. “Erik? What’s wrong?”

Erik silently stared down for a few moments, then sighed wearily. “I’m fine, Rena,” he said, wrapping his arms around his knees and pulling them close. “I just remembered…things didn’t go completely as planned that night.”

“But…I thought you said that this plan worked out perfectly?” Serena asked, confused.

“No, it did, it went off without anyone at the castle suspecting a thing, it’s just…” He raised his head and sighed again. “I almost ruined the entire thing with how sluggish I was that night. I took way too long than usual getting the vault door open, and I completely froze up in a couple places. Once when we were getting everything stowed away, and again when I saw what they had on display up in the ballroom.”

Serena gasped. “Right in the midst of all those people?”

“No, just in a side wing of the castle. It’s a miracle Derk noticed me first over someone else and snapped me out of it, or else we probably wouldn’t have made it out of there.”

“Well, what was it that made you freeze up?”

Erik stared straight ahead, his eyes wavering as if searching for the right words. “It was the Red Orb. I don’t have a clue how she knew it was there, but Mia had mentioned wanting the thing not too long before she…” He shook his head before continuing. “Seeing that was the first time I had been reminded of her or anything else about my childhood in years, and my head just kind of went stiff.

“Derk never asked any questions about what was going on, even when we went to celebrate with our accomplices afterwards, but those guys—when I said something while they were flaunting their egos, they all turned on me.” Erik pressed his face against his knees as he began to sniffle. “I tried to defend myself, since I knew they wouldn’t be able to do the job without me, but everything they ragged about was right, and I got so frustrated when they kept going. Derk ended up chuckling at what one of them said, and I know he didn’t mean to, but that made me furious—I wanted to take it out on the others so much, but I knew that would’ve just made me no better than the Vikings, so…I just got up and left.”

“Oh dear…” Serena breathed, her heart sinking with the sadness of his reminiscence. “I’m so sorry to hear that, Erik—it’s okay, you don’t ever have to feel like you’re letting anyone down with us—”

Erik’s groan cut through her reassurance. “It’s not even that,” he said, his voice growing unsteady. “Whenever I think back to that stupid night, I can’t even tell what the anger was _for_. I thought it was just for our accomplices at first, since it went away when I left, but it was still lurking there a few minutes later. I’m not even sure if it was that anymore—every time I look back I start wondering why I was even there in the first place, and I just get angry all over again.”

Serena paused to consider his words. “But…if you aren’t angry at Derk, or any of the other partners, then who are you angry at?”

“Dammit, Rena, I don’t know!” Erik cried, the sudden rise of his voice drawing a wince from Serena. “I’m just so confused—every time I think back, how out of place I felt among those guys, I feel frustrated and guilty—and then I get angry at _something_. Not Derk, not even any of the other thieves, just…something I can’t even seem to put my finger on.” He shivered as if feeling the full chill of the northern winds; and even with his eyes pressed against his knees, Serena could see a tear squeeze out and slide down his face.

How should she react to this bout of weeping? It wasn’t as severe as Lonalulu or the first two nights where Erik needed full-on hugs, nor was it a minor episode where only a hand on his shoulder was enough. Granted, he had never mentioned which kind of physical comfort he preferred, but Serena thought she had given each situation the proper response so far, and wouldn’t he notice if she did too much all of a sudden?

Serena briefly panicked as she considered what to do. She had to give each scenario the proper extent of consolation so that things would smoothly progress to when Erik finally realized his own feelings. She settled upon she thought was a happy medium, wrapping an arm around Erik’s shoulder and pulling him close, and her apprehension dissolved when he leaned against her.

Even while unable to see Erik’s face, Serena knew that visible struggle would be etched on his face again, when regret and anger flickered behind his narrowed eyes. There was always a nonchalant attitude about him whenever he talked of his past exploits with the rest of the party, but that facade crumbled whenever he discussed them with her. In fact, the more he revealed of himself to Serena, the more she began to wonder how Erik ended up in a life of thievery in the first place. All his scruffiness and feigned indifference hid away a quietly thoughtful, unabashedly loyal, and kind person, a far cry from the shifty cynicism he described of others thieves in his stories. 

And there was a tenderness underneath it all, one that could only be seen when he spoke of his sister. Serena loved that the most about him—even though Mia’s antics seemed to have given him no end of worries, the wistful smile he always adopted showed he still cherished his memories of her.

It made Serena appreciate how fortunate she was to have her own sister to lift her up even more, despite the still lingering guilt for the envy she felt at Veronica not long ago.

There was a bravery to Erik, too—brave in the sense of his self-sacrifice, but also in willing to open up to their companions as well. He had finally begun to chat and laugh along with the others with regularity instead of keeping to himself when they were all gathered as they traveled between the islands, even trying to offer up a consolation or two when things got sensitive. Of course, he only saved his own delicate topics for his conversations with her, and Serena absolutely relished that—it gave their relationship an intimacy she only really felt with Veronica. Certainly that was a sign of his budding love for her, right?

Serena’s contemplation was interrupted as she felt the rise and fall of her arm around Erik’s back with his sigh. She removed her arm from his shoulder, anxious to see if he noticed the difference from past evenings, but he said nothing. Instead of raising his head, Erik rested his chin in the space between his knees as he stared straight ahead.

Seeing Erik so downcast was the last thing Serena wanted after pondering her affections, and she suddenly realized that he had never gotten to describing what Heliodor Castle’s ballroom actually looked like. “Erik…” she began, “I know you might feel awful about me asking this, but do you happen to remember what the ballroom was like that evening?”

“Huh?” His confusion gave way to resignation after a moment. “Oh, sure…well, from what I could see, it’s wasn’t really a ballroom, just the main hall arranged in the style of one…they’ve got these four huge chandeliers that hold a ton of candles, and the light from those reflects from the gold tiling they have on the roof down into the of the hall. They had three of these super long tables set up around the outer part of that area for people to sit down and eat, and another one at the other side wing behind a bunch of pillars where they served all the food.

“The space in the center of the tables was set up for people to dance in all their fancy dresses and whatnot, but everyone had stopped for something going on right in the center.” Erik paused for a moment, returning to his usual relaxed posture as he crossed his arms in thought. “Right…some dude had proposed to a lady about wanting to get married, and all of the attention was on them.”

Delight bubbled up within Serena at the picture Erik’s words painted, and she released it with a sigh. “It sounds absolutely wonderful,” she said.

“Yeah, I guess it kinda was. Flew right over my head until one of the other guys pointed it out to me, though…” Erik’s eyes narrowed with his statement, until recognition passed over his face. “Wait a minute… Hey Rena, could you describe the bandit who traveled with the guard in that story again?”

“The bandit?” Serena echoed. “Hmmm…I don’t think his appearance was brought up much after his first appearance… If I remember correctly, he was short and stocky, with a pudgy face. He had quite the crude accent whenever he spoke—almost every word was a contraction, and he always omitted the ‘h’ from every word that started with one.”

Erik’s expression shifted to something between incredulity and unease. “Huh…now that I think about it, that’s not too far away from one of the guys I worked with for that job. Weird.”

Serena giggled. “I suppose the author has some real-life experience with thievery then, don’t they?” Before she could say more, the weariness of being awake for so long suddenly weighed on her, and she yawned.

“Tired?” Erik asked, which she responded with a nod. Erik stretched as got up from his seat before looking down at her. “Go get some sleep. You know Jade’s not gonna be happy if she has to drag you out here for training again in the morning.”

Serena replied with a “mmhmm,” feeling the pleasurable stretch of her limbs as she raised herself from her own seat. Erik moved to his station by the _Stallion_’s helm, and Serena made her way around the guardrail they had rested upon. She took two steps down to the main deck before looking back at him with a smile. “Good night, Erik.”

The warmth behind the smile Erik returned to her made Serena’s heart skip a beat. “Good night, Rena.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is the last chapter featuring the Salty Stallion for quite a while, which is somewhat surreal given how it's managed to be a part of nearly half of the entire story so far.
> 
> Having Erik begin to call Serena just "Rena" isn't my original idea (and in hindsight kinda surprising its not something Sylvando does in-game like with Veronica), instead shamelessly stolen from [savagemockingbird](https://archiveofourown.org/users/savagemockingbird)'s [fun little meditation on faith between the two](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21739093), so go give that a read.


	13. Orientation de L'Académie, Un

Despite the light of the morning sun cutting through the haze of the northern Champs Sauvage, Serena still couldn’t shake the exhaustion weighing down upon her after touching down on the mainland of Erdrea for the first time in weeks. With how close the craggy Insula Algarum was to the shining pillar leading to their destination, Jade had her sleep in so they wouldn’t be as tired when they finally made landfall. Sylvando had warned her about the so-called “land-sickness” after the first two-day period of sailing as they traveled to the Insula Orientalis, but the ever-present blue surrounding each island was a constant reminder of where she was. Without the ubiquitous ambience of the ocean, each step Serena took seemed to inch her closer to simply falling down and taking a nap; which she certainly _was_ mindful of, now that even Jade had begun to voice her own complaints about how hard it was getting her to wake up at times.

While the rigor of trekking on foot like usual was likely the biggest factor in keeping her awake, Serena wondered if the presence of some waters nearby helped—the great bridge to the south crossed the salty waters of the Valor-Sauvage channel they passed through what felt like ages ago, and the beaten path Serena and the party traveled upon bent around a small lake to their left. A stray thought of wading into the waters and seeing if that would revitalize her suddenly popped into Serena's head, but knowing her it would probably just make her fall asleep in the lake. She would have giggled at the next image of her companions coming to retrieve her from the water, if only she weren’t so tired.

Though everyone was silent from feeling the fatigue of land sickness, it seemed as if Serena was the only one to visibly show it. Sylvando and Rab and Jade were strewn out near the front of the band, maneuvering around the pine trees and firs bordering the road without any trouble, their previous travels upon the ocean steeling them against the exhaustion. Eleven traveled at their head like normal—despite having just spent the longest interval of his entire life on the ocean, he stoically forged onward, likely thanks to his blessings from Yggdrasil.

Walking between Serena and the rest of party was Erik, the locks of his lovely cyan hair cascading like the waterfall before them on full display for her. He trailed behind the forefront four with his knapsack lazily held over his shoulder by the string, likely carrying on as normal like the weathered sailor he was. Serena knew he was keeping himself between her and the others to keep an eye on her and Veronica’s weariness. A part of Serena wanted to feign a stumble so that he would come back and steady her, maybe even take her by the hand if she ended up falling… Her legs seemed to wobble on their own as she began to wrestle with that desire, but wouldn’t Erik find it rather awkward to be holding hands among her sister and the others?

And as for Veronica—

Serena suddenly heard a surprised cry and rustling from beside her, and she looked down to find her sister tripped over a rock into a tall fern on the side of the path, her eagle-winged rod clattering away from her hands.

“Veronica, are you alright?” Serena asked, halting and lowering herself to her sister.

Something between a groan and a whimper emitted from Veronica’s throat as she raised herself from the plant. “Guuuuyyys, I’m so _tiiirrred!_” she drawled, pouting glumly as she looked up. “Can’t we stop and rest our legs somewhere?”

“Everyone’s tired,” Erik said pointedly, having retrieved her rod of rapidity and extending it towards her. “Getting your land legs back takes some time if you haven’t been using them for a while. Get used to it.”

The sound Veronica made this time was most certainly a groan as she stood from her fall, and an _oh no_ reflexively echoed in Serena’s mind. “Hey, Captain Barnacle,” her sister growled, “in case you’ve forgotten the past two months, my legs aren’t exactly made for keeping up with you giants!”

Erik let out a resigned sigh and shrugged his free arm. He said, “Have Rena cast Accelerate on you or something,” and Serena's cheeks reddened. Ever since he had began referring to her with his nickname, she couldn’t help feeling self-conscious whenever Erik used it around the others. She knew it was another sign of him warming up to her, yet she couldn’t help but wonder—since their relationship was tied to his insecurities, was he reluctant to show his affections outside the times they stowed away by themselves?

“Getting a speed boost isn’t going to solve the problem of me having to take two steps for one of everyone else’s!” Veronica said as she yanked her staff away from Erik with both hands. “I’ll just end up getting even more tired than I am now!”

Erik glowered at Veronica. "Hey, Rab’s legs are just as short and older than yours, and he hasn’t said a word about being tired.”

A few steps further down the path, Rab had turned back towards them along with their other companions. “Well actually, folks, I am rather—”

“Grandad’s been on the road longer than I’ve been alive, you twit!” Veronica snapped back, disregarding Rab’s interjection. “You can’t lump me against someone who’s spent more nights traveling than I’ve had hot dinners!”

“Yes, I can, and I just did!” Erik said, his voice becoming charged with annoyance. “You’ve probably got more energy than he’s got magic spells left in him, so could you act the age you look and quit your whining?”

Whether he meant to or not, Erik’s retort had struck the perpetual soft spot of Veronica’s condition, and the twisting of Veronica’s face only deepened Serena’s anxiety. Still crouching, she glanced away from the two at Rab and the others, resignation and exasperation passing between their expressions as they waited for one of them to exit the argument out of frustration.

Certainly, Erik and Veronica quarreling with each other was one of the constants of their interactions at this point; but tired as she was, seeing her two favorite people in the world devolve into another petty squabble only seemed to raise her anger as well. Before she knew it, a groan had escaped her mouth and she snapped, “Both of you, stop this foolishness right this second!”

Veronica and Erik froze, the low sound of rushing water filling the space their anger previously occupied as they turned their gazes upon Serena. She met Erik’s eyes first, which quickly grew conceding as he scratched the back of his neck, then shifted to Veronica’s. Anger smoldered behind her sister’s eyes as they occasionally flickered hers and Erik’s, but the hardening of her gaze caused them to soften. Veronica’s frown disappeared as she let out a resigned sigh, and Serena knew then she had diffused the situation.

“Okay dearies, that’s enough monster-free excitement for one morning,” Sylvando chimed in, approaching them from further down the path. Behind him, Serena could see Jade and Rab and even Eleven staring right at her in surprise at her outburst, and she felt a tingling embarassment. Sylvando continued, “We know you’re almost out of steam, Ronnie, but El’s map says there’s campsite right around the bend to the east here.” He pointed to the fork in the road ahead, where a sign too faded to read stood. “Just keep up for a few more minutes and we’ll all be able to rest.”

Veronica emitted one of her usual grumbles in place of a conceding “fine,” and she followed Sylvando towards the rest of the party. Erik flashed a grateful smile at Serena before trailing behind them, and she felt her cheeks heat up even more as she followed in his wake.

As Sylvando rejoined the head of the party, Veronica followed behind with plenty of space between her and Erik, enough for Serena to wedge herself in bewteen them as they walked. Even with the small pride she took from sucessfully keeping her from further arguing with Erik, she was still rather abashed for her sudden outburst at her sister.

“You know, Veronica, I can give you another piggyback ride if you’re feeling too tired,” Serena suggested.

Veronica glanced up at her for a moment before shaking her head. “Isn’t your load already full enough?” she asked, talking of Serena’s lyre in one hand and red sack tied around her right shoulder compared to the yellow pack tied around her sister’s waist. “Plus, being jostled against that spear of yours would be pretty uncomfortable.”

Serena glanced over her shoulder at her gold trident they had bought for her at Lonalulu, the chafing of the shaft pressing against her back suddenly becoming palpable.

Veronica let out a composed sigh. “Don’t try to push yourself too hard for my sake again.”

“Right…” Serena agreed. Even when her sister was more tired then she was, she was always one step ahead in looking out for her.

They fell silent as the party took the right fork and crossed the stream that flowed further into the ravine before them. Serena found the smaller size and white bark of the birch trees bordering the other path separating them from the taller pine trees around the rest of the valley to be a curiosity, but she knew they’d likely investigate after they had a good rest. Purple-furred spiked hares peeked out from amidst the taller greenery on this side of the stream, but were easily shooed away at a glance from Eleven.

“…ewhere else!” Serena’s ears perked up at a the sound of a girl’s voice, high-pitched in a way not unlike her sister’s.

“Did you say something, Veronica?” Serena asked, glancing down at her.

“What? No?” she answered back.

“Hmm. I must be hearing things, then.” The party continued onward. As the opening into the ravine widened, Serena could spot an unfamiliar vairant of a slime knight hopping around, this one outfitted in green and riding on a metal slime. Did that make them as fast as the typical little speedsters? It would certainly make them much more—

“…azie, we’ve got to get back s…”

“There it is again!” Serena said, stopping in her tracks.

“There’s what?” Erik asked, stopping and turning back towards her, with the rest of the party following soon after.

“…ooking, or else Waloppe’s gonna have our…”

“Someone’s voice,” Serena answered, turning in its direction to the birch trees on the other side of the stream. “It sounds like another girl’s, but it’s not Veronica’s nor Jade’s.” Serena inclined her ears to her left, attempting to focus over the noise of rushing water. After listening in for a few seconds, she could make out multiple voices, the depth of the initial voice sounding the oldest. “It sounds like there are three of them.”

“Over there!” Jade said, pointing past a boulder to the other side of the stream. Far past the deep green of the pine leaves and the white of the birches, three figures stood out, two in dark navy and another in deep crimson. “What in the world are those people doing over there?”

“It looks like they’re…” Sylvando began, stepping forward and narrowing his eyes for a better look, “…crawling around in the grass?”

“What the…who the heck would be messing around in the open like this with monsters roaming around?” Erik asked. 

“Who cares about why they’re doing that, you guys, let’s go find out!” Veronica cut in. Somehow charged by her spat with Erik a minute earlier, she was already hurrying back down the path towards the bridge.

Serena partook in the brief exchange of glances between the party. Seeing no objections from Eleven or anyone else, she moved briskly at the head of the others as they follwed after her sister. Veronica stood in waiting for them at the opposite end of the bridge then continued onward when they reached her, barging through a cluster of tall grass and ferns on the edge of the path as she hurried along. She slowed to a walk as he reached the shadows of the birch trees, and Serena and the rest of the party trailed behind her at the same pace.

Looking further along the birch-lined path, Serena noticed that it was strangely monster-free. A conversation between the voices became apparent as she made made her way forward.

“…see it!? It’s a suspicious looking plant with blue and purple leaves!” called the initial rough-sounding voice. “That’s why it’s called narspicious, Mindy!”

“I know, I know, but I can’t see anything blue or purple, just green!” said another.

“Don’t be daft, just keep looking!”

Seconds later, a third voice spoke up, this one noticably younger and high-pitched. “Ummm, guys? Something’s coming up the road!”

“Another monster? Hey, Racheal! Quit cowering behind the gate, you’re up!”

_Racheal?_ Hadn’t Serena heard a similar sounding name in one of her storybooks before? By now, she could clearly make out twin brick pillars on each side of the path, and if she looked closely at the right pillar, she could see traces of bright blue and yellow peeking out from behind.

A rustling emitted from a fern at the base of a birch tree, and for a moment Serena could make out a small girl’s face topped with floppy black pigtails within its leaves. Their eyes quickly grew wide, and the face retreated a split-second later. “Uhhhh, Zazie, there are _people_ coming this way!”

“What!? Who!?”

“I dunno! A new student and their entire family!? We gotta go!”

An indecipherable sound of displeasure came from the raucous voice. “Bugger all! C’mon girls, we’ve gotta split!” A sandy haired teenage girl in a crimson uniform bolted from behind a bulge in the rock face towering to Serena’s left, sparing a glance at the party as she ran towards the pillars. “You all know the drill—none of us ever saw each other today ‘till after today’s recital!”

Soon after, the navy-uniformed younger girl with black pigtails followed in the wake of the first, yelling “Zoooooooom!” as she dashed in the wake of the older girl.

“Wait, darlings, wait for me!” cried a third voice, and another teenaged girl in navy appeared from behind the curve, long brown hair trailing in the air behind her as she tailed the other girls.

Serena glanced over her shoulder towards her companions to share her own confusion, Erik and Sylvando’s expressions the most perplexed among them.

“Guys!” Veronica called impatiently, already able to see past the two pillars. “There’s a healslime chasing after those girls, come on!” She darted away as soon as she finished, leaving Serena and the others to catch up again.

The path began to curve on the other side of the brick pillars, winding around the protrusions of the surrounding cliffs and the bordering birch trees nestled within. It took merely a few seconds for the party to catch up with Veronica, but the path extended onwards for nearly a minute, the trio of girls and healslime managing to keep ahead of the them the entire time. Serena grew increasingly confused as they chased after them. There was a sense of urgency to the way the girls ran, clamoring among themselves and never looking back at the party, but the healslime didn’t seem to be chasing after them—in fact, it looked as if the healslime shared the exact restlessness as the uniformed girls.

Eventually the greenery grew more dense as the path began to widen, and the girls and healsime disappeared as they ran around a large boulder protruding from the western cliff. For a fleeting moment, Serena thought the long drive would go on forever, until the party made their way around the boulder themselves. Her nose could suddenly catch a faint aroma of flowers, and then she could see something other than endless rock and birch trees ahead of them. Veronica seemed to come to the realization at the same time as her, and Serena nearly tripped over her sister as she suddenly came to a halt.

“What in the…” she breathed. “Is this…a school?”

Far ahead of the party, the girls and healslime passed under a elaborately decorated gate lined by bushes, cordoning off an opening dedicated to what looked like a huge estate. Though its facade was symmetrical in the fashion of it’s contemporaries, it lacked the high pinnacled towers and raised parapets and grandiose carvings—instead, windows were set on its exterior in a uniform fashion, with clusters of green vines traveling up and down its whitewashed exterior.

Serena’s perusal faltered as Eleven walked ahead of her, seemingly unfazed by the placement of such a decorated building in a secluded place. She followed behind him with the rest of the party. As they approached the gate, her perplexion only grew as she noticed the archway was wrought into the fashion of those small medals they tended to find in the out of the way corners of the world.

Floral scents suffused Serena’s nose as they closed in on the gate, and she released her elation in a breath when she could finally see past the fence. A enormous cultivated garden stretched across the estate, with rows of shrubs bordering the pathways and lining the edges of each individual plot. Countless flowers of all kinds and colors were meticulously arranged within these patches—red snapdragons here, purple violas there, yellow chrysanthemums over there, and white lilies of the valleys strewn around them. A first glance would give the impression that flowers were placed at random, but as they crossed under the gate, Serena was astonished to find the gardens arranged in a wholly uniform fashion, with circular clusters of white flowers surrounded by red and purple.

“Uh,” breathed Erik, “am I seeing things, or are there a bunch of monsters down there crowded around those girls?” he asked.

Following his words to the lowered yard encircled by the gardens, Serena saw a score of girls dressed in the selfsame navy uniforms gathered—and her perplexity gave way to more bewilderment as she indeed noticed a handful of monsters strewn among them! A lips hung at the back of the crowd adjacent to a hammerhood and dracky, the healslime from before floated next to the taller brown-haired girl, and if she looked closely, she could see a shellslime beside one of the walking corpses all the way from Hotto—which, strangely enough, had pink hair and was dressed in a uniform of its own. 

The incredible incongruence of the setting left Serena at a loss for words. Guessing from the uniforms and the elaborately arranged plants on the grounds, this estate had to be a school dedicated to cultivating these girls to achieve some higher ideal, and yet here were monsters whose very appearances seemed to be in direct defiance of that! There was no hostility in the way the monsters mingled among the other girls; in fact, they seemed to share the exact same anticipation for an oncoming occurence. 

Serena perked up at the sound of doors opening, and she lifted her attention to the front of the building to find a stout, white-bearded man dressed in a red robe emerging into the morning sunlight. His head was topped with a tiny black scholar’s cap, and a mini medal pendant dangled over his green vest as he walked forward.

A small platform was set at the the bottom of the front steps, and the chattering of the girls and monsters ceased as the man reached the bottom of the stairs and leapt atop the platform. He carried a small conductors baton, and when he raised it above his head with a flourish, the girls began to sing in chorus.

_“'Neath the branches of the birches  
Daffodils sway and swiiing  
Here among the graceful gardens  
Budding young ladies siiing!  
We'll stride across the wide, wide world  
And hunt for mini medals low and hiiigh  
But our hearts live forever in  
L'Académie de Notre Maître des Médailles!”_

* * *

“And finally,” Candida said, gesturing to their right as Serena and Veronica and Erik followed around the corner, “we have the office of the 11th headmaster of L'Académie de Notre Maître des Médailles, Monsieur le Principal Maxime Médaillé.” She gestured to center of the foyer at what could only be a picturesque snippet of a cozy forest home: a squat gray cottage with a circular sloping red roof, surrounded by flowering bushes and a myriad of other plants, complete with a encircling running stream and nearby tree. “Very little is known of Monsieur Médaillé’s life prior to his appointment as headmaster 30 years ago, but we find no fault in that—the shedding of his personal history is a testament to the devotion he has in molding all his students into miniature ladies par excellence!”

At that declaration, Candida stopped and oriented herself towards Serena and the others, the twin black braids of her pigtails swishing in the air as she turned. “Thus concludes our tour,” she said, clapping her hands and smiling cordially at them. “Any questions?”

Serena spared a brief glance for Veronica and Erik, seeing complete indifference from her sister and a veiled apprehension from the latter. With no questions oncoming from her companions, Serena raised one of her own. “So the students here are trained to travel around the world, correct? If they’re supposed to learn here for seven years, when are they able to go out and experience it for themselves?”

“Ah, that experience is the capstone of a pupils tutelage at L'Académie!” Candida beamed. “Shortly after entering their final year, a senior student travels around the world alongside our retainer as he gathers the delicacies used in our meals, showcasing their grace and beauty as they learn about the world’s cultures firsthand, all while collecting as many mini medals as they can.”

“Sounds delightful!” Serena replied. Though there were certainly few dull moments journeying alongside the Luminary with all extraordinary experiences they’d ran into so far, the excitement of everything plus the urgency to reach Yggdrasil left her little time to truly get a sense of the places they visited. When everything was finally over, Serena wanted to take the time to revisit everywhere they had been—hopefully with Erik and Veronica and everyone else like they were now.

“Indeed it is! My excursion concluded just a mere two months ago, and it was an fabulous experience! That is a story for another time, however.” Candida clasped her hands together once more. “Any other questions?”

“I’ve got one,” Erik spoke up, gesturing towards the headmaster’s office. “What in the world happens to all the mini medals you guys collect?”

Candida’s smile faltered as her gaze drifted to Erik’s, the eyes behind her spectacles growing apprehensive as she adjusted them. “All mini medals collected by the students of L'Académie are relinquished to the possession of Monsieur Médaillé,” she said stiffly.

Erik crossed his arms. “Okay, and what does _he_ do with them?”

Candida cheeks tinged pink as she opened her mouth to respond, but muffled chatter suddenly rose, then grew fully audible as the pair of sliding doors to the classroom behind them opened. A gaggle of students crowded each exit, excitedly dispersing in groups of two or three towards Serena and the others and into the academy hallways.

“I’m dreadfully sorry to leave without answering your question,” Candida sputtered, “but the morning classes have ended, and I have to make sure my fellow students stay out of trouble!” Her gaze immediately snapped to somewhere behind Erik, and she hurried around him while pointedly avoiding his eyes. Serena turned to watch the chef de classe as she departed, flagging down a younger girl in a hat about an ill remark in an earlier class as she went up the steps. 

“Well, this place is certainly full of surprises, isn’t it?” Serena said. She scanned her surroundings to take in some of its other intricacies, from the lily-shaped lamps along the wall, to the green carpet stretching across the polished wood, and the arcing arches between the pillars that bordered the grass. Thinking of school tended to remind Serena of her teachers’ rather sluggish lectures and long hours studying at her desk; and while this place certainly seemed to have plenty of that, the cultivated atmosphere made it seem as if there was more to L'Académie than she would expect. “I don’t think I would have minded being enrolled in this school if things had turned out differently, wouldn’t you, Veronica?”

Her sister puffed out a disappointed breath. “Not really. It seemed like a nice place when we first got here, but after that tour, I don’t think I could stand being here longer than maybe a week.” Veronica glanced towards the other classroom at the far end of the adjacent corridor as its doors open, students crowding at the doors to leave. “Seriously—dealing with school almost every day of your life for seven years straight? I’ll only take the few days a week we needed when we were kids, thank you very much.”

Serena tilted her head as she thought back to their most rigorous learning periods a couple years prior to before they set off on their journey, when traveling techniques and intermediate magic was implemented into their curriculum along with all the usual studies for Arborian youths. “But didn’t you always do well in school back home?”

“Are you kidding?” Veronica said with a grimace. “The only thing I was ever any good at in school was doing magic, not arithmetic or literature or any of that other nonsense! Don’t you remember all the times the elder had to sit down with me and our parents because I couldn’t be bothered to pay attention in most of our lessons when we were younger?”

Veronica’s words reminded Serena of all the times she saw her sister’s empty desk as she skipped out on studying to practice her magic, and subsequently when she found herself peeking around the stairs when her parents lectured Veronica about her negligence in the kitchen. With how much praise her sister recieved from being so talented at magic, her falterings never seemed that apparent to Serena. “Oh, dear, I do remember now…”

Veronica shrugged. “It’s fine, it’s not that unpleasant of a reminder anymore,” she said, anticipating Serena’s apology. “Honestly, I don’t think I’ve used more than half of the stuff they tried to hammer into our skulls, so I can’t help but wonder what the point is of putting these girls through this for so long. At least they come out of it with a nice uniform, I suppose.”

Serena smiled at her sister’s self-consolation. “You certainly wouldn’t look out of place here wearing that.”

“Ugh, tell me about it.” Veronica rolled her eyes. “All the other kids asking if I was a first-year student during that tour, I might as be enrolled, shouldn’t I?” Her expression brightened as realization dawned upon it. “Well, at least now that Eleven’s an ‘honorary student’ here, we can probably convince him to get Mister Whiskers to hand us a few of them!”

“Oh, that would be just lovely!” Serena replied, momentarily imagining herself and her sister and Jade all outfitted in L’Academie’s navy blue. But as it always seemed to happen whenever she considered anything in that hue, her thoughts always shifted to the bright cyan of Erik’s hair. “Erik, don’t you think Veronica and Jade and I would look just so elegant in those uniforms?”

When she turned in his direction, she found Erik looking pensively at something in the distance. Her eagerness morphed into confusion, and she asked, “Erik, what are you staring at?”

Erik glanced at her sidelong for a moment before looking back down the adjacent hall. “I don’t know what the deal is, but I’m pretty sure those girls over there have been talking about me ever since they left that room,” he said, nodding in that direction.

Serena followed his gesture to the far classroom, where a trio of teenaged students chattered just outside its doors. She recognized the girl with the sandy hair and crimson uniform from that morning, but the other two were unfamiliar to Serena: one with a messy bunch of dark brown hair that fell past her shoulders, and the other with an immaculately neat bob cut that matched the navy of their uniform. The red-uniformed girl glanced at Erik with a mischievous look before looking back at her companions and speaking, eliciting a laugh from her messy-haired friend, while the gaze of the neat-haired girl wavered between her friends and Erik. Serena’s eyes seemed to narrow on their own as they met those of the navy-haired girl—and strangely, something in her gaze caused her to nervously turn back towards her friends.

“Huh,” Erik idly said, drawing Serena’s attention back to him. “Anyway, sorry for not paying attention before, what were you saying?”

“She asked you if you liked the uniform, you goof,” Veronica said, with no bite to her words.

“It’s nice. I think I can get behind the dark colors.” He looked back at the girls, narrowing his eyes as he took a closer look at their outfits. “It’s weird—the more I look at those uniforms, the more I think that they wouldn’t be too out of place on a ship somewhere…”

“As good as a sailor you are, I’m sure that those uniforms would look just _perfect_ on you,” Veronica sassed with a smirk.

Instead of taking offense to Veronica’s quip, Erik’s look grew apprehensive. “Oh man, I think I can somehow imagine myself in one of those, actually…”

“Maybe we should get a uniform for everyone then, shouldn’t we?” Serena suggested with a giggle.

Veronica’s face was the next to sour. “Uhh, I’m not so sure about _everyone_, Serena. I’m sure us and Jade and Eleven would look fine in those, but Rab? Blegh.”

“Hmm, speaking of everyone else, I wonder where they all could have gotten to?”

“Beats me,” Erik said with a shrug.

“Everyone left during the tour for one reason or another, so they should be around here somewhere,” said Veronica. She briefly scanned their surroundings before heading towards the stairwell between the two classrooms, and Serena trailed behind as Erik fell in step alongside her. When Serena looked towards the other classroom, she saw the group of teenagers hurrying away from the glare of an instructor dressed in a black academic gown. 

Serena and Erik made their way up the first flight of stairs behind her sister, but shortly after Veronica turned the corner to her right, she started with a sharp intake of breath. Serena rounded the corner to see a teenaged girl with a tanned complexion and black hair listening to the impassioned words of a lips as dracky flitted in the air nearby. Noticing Serena and her companions as she turned the corner, the dracky called out, “Hey! There’sss sssome of the othersss who were with him!”

The dracky’s companions oriented towards them, the lips managing to make the sharpest turn with a squeal despite its sluggish movement. “You three!” She slithered down the steps in two long strides, coming to a halt right before Veronica. “You must tell me… all of you are acquainted with L'Académie’s newest student, yes!?” She spoke like any other human would, but a smack of her full orange lips accompanied the end of every sentence.

Veronica took two steps back, her visible struggle to keep surprise on her expression in place of distaste forcing Serena to stifle a laugh. “Uh…well…”

“Oh boy…” Erik muttered. Louder, he said, “You’re talking about Eleven, right? Wears purple, has the silky smooth brown hair?”

The lips’ eyestalks immediately oriented towards Erik. “Yes! Yes! That’s him! Please! You must tell me all you know about him!” Her voice rose with each phrase, reverberating in the confines of the stairwell.

Erik winced at the lips’ loudness, but remained otherwise unfazed. “Jeez, calm down. Look, I think El’s a nice guy as much as anyone else, but he can get act as mysterious as the Goddess herself sometimes. You’re going to want to try talking to him yourself if you want to get a better sense. Last I saw him, he was getting crowded by a few other girls somewhere outside.”

The lips uttered a distraught cry. “Oh no! They’re trying to get into his good graces already! I must hurry!” Veronica recoiled back as the lips suddenly slid around her, making their way down the steps while muttering and smacking her lips all the while.

“Wait, thisss new ssstudent is a boy!?” the dracky questioned. “Thisss is a firssst! I want to sssee!” They sailed over Serena’s head as they followed their classmate, and Serena turned to watch as the pair of monsters made their way around the corner.

A sigh drifted towards them from atop the stairs, and they turned to see the girl finally approaching them. “You’ll have to excuse my friends there,” she said with an appeasing smile. “Purscilla always loses her marbles whenever anyone mentions a boy, and Chantelle just follows along with whoever’s the loudest at the time, so they’re always a bit much for most people to handle. Sorry about that.”

“Oh, that’s no problem at all!” Serena said with a wave of her hand. “It’s always a little difficult dealing with someone when their passions get the better of them, isn’t it?”

“Tell me about it,” the girl replied cheerily. She spared a glance for Veronica and Erik, but her eyes lingered on his for a second longer than Veronica’s. Suddenly taking on a nervous air, she said, “I’d better go make sure they don’t get into trouble, so if you’ll excuse me…” They wedged themselves between Serena and her sister as they made their way down the stairs after their companions.

Erik’s expression was resigned as he watched the them, and he breathed out a weary sigh as she disappeared around the corner.

“What’s wrong, Erik?” Serena asked.

“I’m starting to wonder how long ago word made it here ahead of us about me being a wanted man,” he said, scratching at his head.

“You find that weird?” Veronica asked dubiously. “I mean, it’s pretty easy to tell that these girls have gotten more than a few warnings to keep away from people who dress even half as scruffily as you.”

“Yeah, I get that—it’s just that wherever we go, there’s usually one or two people that end up fawning over me for whatever reason, so it’s kind of strange how none of these girls can seem to look me in the eyes for longer than two seconds. I tried hanging around with El for a bit since the tour wasn’t really that interesting, but those girls practically shooed me away with all the frowns they were giving me.” Erik shrugged. “At least they’re being straightforward, I guess…”

_But certainly that must be a good thing, so nobody else can contest my affections!_ a voice suddenly echoed in the back of Serena’s mind. The feverishness of the thought belied the sudden relief that she felt at Erik’s words. “Well, Erik,” she began, smiling warmly at him, “instead of focusing on those who are unfriendly to you, I find it best to look towards the people who might look upon you more favorably.”

“Yeah, probably,” Erik replied, his voice shifting to resignation over apprehension. It seemed insignificant, but Serena would take that as a small victory in her favor.

Veronica’s huff interrupted their moment. “I don’t know how you two can get hung up over that with the cyclops in the room. I almost thought that lips was going to attack me with how close that thing got!”

“It’s a she,” Erik dryly pointed out. “All the monsters here are shes.” 

“Ugh, I know…” she conceded with a shake of her head. “Seven sages, I don’t think I’m ever going to get over those things moving around and talking like normal people.” 

Her sister’s words reminded Serena of the morning when they landed at Zwaardsrust, when her naivete had forced her into dire straits. With the scores of monsters that had impeded their travels since then, it seemed increasingly foolish to hold onto her ideal of friendly monsters as they journeyed forth, but now Serena was more than glad to see that they could find a way to live peacefully with humans, even if it was merely a tiny number of them.

Erik shrugged. “Hey, just because you run into nine monsters that want to attack you, that doesn’t mean the tenth one will too.”

“Oh yeah?” Veronica asked. “How come you’re so certain?”

For a moment, Serena could see Erik’s eyes grow distant, as if suddenly uncovering a memory long forgotten. “None of your business.”

Veronica seemed to notice his change as well, and her eyes briefly flashed towards Serena before she waved a hand. “Fine then, keep your secrets,” she said without hostility as she turned and continued up the stairs. Erik’s expression gave away nothing as he followed, and Serena blushed despite herself. She paused at the top of the next set of steps, examining the paintings on the wall for a few seconds until her cheeks returned to their normal color, then ascended to the upper floor.

“Don’t fall,” Erik said to Veronica as she wedged her face between the balusters to look down at the lower floor.

“Quiet, you,” Veronica idly replied. When Serena came up the stairs, she called, “Hey Serena, come see how Whiskers’ tiny-house-garden looks with the sunlight on it!”

Serena released a delighted breath as she saw Monsieur Medaille’s house from above in the near-afternoon light. She had taken a brief look during that portion of the chef de classe’s tour, but the dearth of light from the midmorning sun drew little attention to the headmaster’s hut. Now, the purple and yellow violas nestled atop the stone structures glowed in the afternoon sunlight with the adjacent tree, adding more charm to its already quaint feel.

“Oh, it’s so wonderful!” Serena said. She craned her head up towards the skylight, watching as the sun continued to crawl towards its apex. “I wonder how they keep these flowers nourished without the sunlight directly on them all the time?”

“It’s not that difficult,” Erik said, crossing his arms. “Some flowers don’t need as much sunlight as others, so you can keep them in places that aren’t lit all the time if they only need a few hours a day.” Before Serena could ask where he learned that, Erik’s eyes shifted to the left corridor. “Oh, hey Rab.”

Serena followed Erik’s gaze to see the old king of Dundrasil as he rounded the corner towards them. Jade was tagged along with Rab as well, but she followed slowly in his wake, sliding a hand below the windowsill as she gazed at something outside of the building.

“Where’d you guys peel off to during the tour?” Erik asked.

“Jade took a liking to that routine a group of bairns and a slime was up to outside, and decided to have a thorough inspection of the grounds afterwards,” Rab said. “We’d have probably caught up to ye three a while ago, but seems as if the princess is fine with taking a tour on her own terms. Not like that’s much of a problem, mind ye—there’s more than enough pretty sights this place has to take in.”

“I’m sure the girls L'Académie cultivates aren’t very far from all the ladies you interacted with back in the day, are they?” Serena asked.

Laughter drifted upwards from the lower floor, and Rab glanced in its direction for a moment. “Hm, mostly. Mister Médaillé’s handiwork is certainly turning these wee lassies into fine young ladies worthy of any royal retinue, though I cannae seem to tell how getting them to scrounge around for a bunch of tiny medals does them any favors for their refinement.”

Jade drifted around the corner towards their conversation as Rab finished his spiel, a hand held close to her chin as she stared down at the lower corridor. A group of uniformed girls appeared from behind the headmaster's office to disappear into the refectory’s open doors, and Jade’s eyes were trained on them the entire time, half-lidded yet wistfully distant.

“And how are you feeling about this place, Jade?” Serena asked of her.

Jade breathed out in realization as her eyes wavered towards Serena’s. She blinked at her for a moment, until her expression turned contemplative once more. “This school, it’s strange,” Jade mused, craning her neck to survey her surroundings. “It’s so idyllic, with the pretty uniforms the students wear and the cultivated gardens and the friendly monsters, but it all feels so…mundane.” That final word was said with a tinge of disbelief, and her gaze settled back to where the group of girls were moments ago. “And yet, for some reason, I can’t help but find everything so fascinating.” Jade sighed, turned around without meeting Serena or the others’ eyes, and headed down the stairs without another word.

A mournful silence followed in the wake of Jade’s contemplation, until Rab spoke up a second later. “Och, there she goes again,” he said, idly beginning to feel at his mustache. “The princess gets like this every now and again, whenever she spots a group of lassies enjoying themselves. Pining after the life she used to have when she was a wee bairn, I’d wager.” Rab paused, the look in his eyes reminding Serena of her own father. His expression brightened, and he said, “Don’t worry, folks—she’ll be back to her normal self before long. I’ll be tagging along with her for a little while longer, so if ye’ll excuse me…”

Serena felt a throb of worry watched as she watched Rab follow in Jade’s wake. When he disappeared from view, she shared a glance with her sister, the concern on Veronica’s face mirroring her own. They had both seen Jade fall into deep reflection plenty of times before whenever they shared a room with her, but nothing as severe as the trance she seemed to be in now.

Erik’s sigh cut through the silence. “Being tied down by the past is always a bummer, huh?” he said, seemingly to no one in particular. “At least she’s got a way to deal with it, though.” Serena could see the beginnings of a smile in Erik’s expression as his eyes met hers. “C’mon, let’s go see where everyone’s favorite honorary student ran off to.”

* * *

“…but still,” Sylvando continued, falling in step beside Erik while Eleven continued out of the library after him, “if they aren’t going to have any kind of theater or something for these girls to put all their dramatic energy towards, wouldn’t it be nice for them to have something else to spice up their schedules?”

“Hey, don’t ask me,” Erik replied. Despite Sylv’s claims about how seeing that many books apparently made his head spin, he’d fallen back to his usual high-spirited antics as soon as he’d gotten his hands on some kind of play, reciting lines and obnoxiously changing up his voice to match different characters while Erik and Eleven continued browsing the library. “This place is pretty much beyond my taste in any kind of decoration, if I even wanted to have a big building like this.”

Erik’s dismissive reply didn’t deter Sylvando’s ponderings, and he hummed thoughtfully as he scanned the walls of the hallway. “Then again…the way these lanterns are arranged with all these dark spots between them, it feels a tad bit gloomy in places, doesn’t it? There’s natural light coming in from some of the higher windows, but none down here to fill these dreary hallways…” Sylvando’s eyes drifted to the right where the flowers surrounding the headmaster’s hut were bathed in dusky orange shadow, and his eyes lit up a moment later. “What if, instead of having just white lily lanterns, they changed them up to have more kinds of flowers with different colors!” he piqued excitedly.

“Yeah, that would brighten things up, but wouldn’t it be against the point of being in a serious academy?” Erik asked.

“Well, of course, darling, but wouldn’t it be so much better if these students’ days could be brightened even in between their studies? Changing up the color of a place can do wonders for raising people’s spirits for the better, you know.”

“I don’t know,” Erik replied, shrugging as they turned a corner in the hallway towards the stairs. “Does it even matter? I don’t want to go to this school.”

Sylvando let out a disappointed puff. “Come on, you can’t even try putting yourselves in the shoes of these poor girls? That’s no fun,” he said pointedly, and Erik rolled his eyes as Sylvando turned towards Eleven on his other side. “El dearie, what about you?”

Eleven’s expression was inscrutable as his eyes met Sylvando’s, but he simply shook his head and waved a hand dismissively.

“Oh come on, just because you’re bright enough to memorize a dozen books by heart in half an hour that you don’t need to go to school doesn’t mean you can’t have any opinions on interior design!”

One side of Eleven’s lips curled slightly upwards from Sylv’s prodding, and Erik stifled a chuckle at Sylvando’s groan. Even with how heroically inscrutable as he was now, El still had traces of that smug brat he apparently was back when he was younger, which kept him a heck of a lot more interesting than your typical do-gooder.

“…she totally does, doesn’t she!?” Erik’s ears caught the sound of a girl’s feverish voice over Sylvando’s irritation as they passed by the classroom to Eleven’s left, the sliding door at the front of the room left slightly ajar. When he could see into the room a little, the shell slime and trio of navy-uniformed teenagers scattered around didn’t seem out of the ordinary—but when he had made it to the other side of the door, the crimson outlier gave him pause.

Sitting at the school desk on the far side of the room was the sandy-haired girl, lounging with her legs up atop the slanted surface. Her relaxed position didn’t just clash with her pensive frown—the couple times Erik had seen her between the late-morning tour and now, it always looked as if there was a mischievous smile brewing under the surface; which came out every time her gaze had met his, as if she knew some sort of dirty secret. It seemed like a coincidence the first time he had seen her with her friends after the tour, but now Erik couldn’t be sure.

Suddenly curious, Erik let Eleven and Sylvando pass by before stepping lightly towards the classroom door. The gap in the doorway was about as wide as his hand, just enough for him to hide his body behind the fixed panel while still being able to see without having to crane his neck much. Besides the sandy-haired girl, Erik recognized two of the others: he’d seen the one with the messy bunch of hair sitting atop the edge of the closest desk with her right before lunch, and the party had chased after the long-haired girl sitting with her back against the podium just to stumble across L'Académie.

The last girl moved into Erik’s view from the front of the room as she spoke, her hair colored the same brown as the other two, but much shorter and parted to the left. “…we sure we’re talking about the same one? You never know who’s who with her sometimes, y’know…”

“I agree!” said the shell slime, sitting atop the podium. “Are you sure you weren’t seeing double—mistaking our friend for her mirror image?”

The messy-haired girl let out a chortle. “I mean, of course it was her! She’s the only other member of the gang in our Age of Heroes History class, and her sister’s not even in that period! And it’s not like she’d be insane enough to pull any tricks that weren’t planned out by you, Chella—even if they can fool all the other girls.”

“Wow…” breathed the girl sitting under the podium, staring at her clenched knees in awe. “Someone like her falling for him… what could it _mean_?”

“It means she’s going crazy, that’s what! Sure, he’s apparently familiar to us, and he’s kinda swoon-worthy, but who would want to miss out on a sharp-eyed hottie like the newest student? I’d love for him to find my missing belt for me every day of the week!”

The short-haired girl sighed. “Come on, she’s not going crazy. She probably just has different tastes from everyone else, just like the rest of us.”

“Oh Lynnie…I know we’re cool and all, but you can’t tell me you wouldn’t want the honorary student over the other one, right?”

“Helen…you know I’d rather not have either of them,” the short-haired girl said, taking on a serious air. Helen simply replied with another chortle.

“I dunno why you guys would want anyone else,” began the long-haired girl, “—not when the dashing, daring, most darling Sterling Sylva is out in the world somewh—”

“Will all you nutters shut your traps and focus!?” the crimson-uniformed girl snapped loudly, scowling at the other girls. “We gotta figure out how we’re gonna keep us from hot oil if we don’t get a replacement soon!”

The shell slime suddenly jumped in their place atop the podium, their smile flipping upside own. “Hot oil from Waloppe’s wrath isn’t the only thing we have to worry about—what are we going to do about the upcomming brain-strainer—Madame Augustine’s next medal etiquette exam?”

Surprise masked the anger in the crimson-uniformed girl’s expression for a moment. “Oh bugger, that’s this week, isn’t it?” She made a sound of disgust. “More the reason for us to try and figure something out, but I suppose nobody’s getting past that if we don’t get a move on studying now…”

Helen let out a light chuckle. “It’s funny, Cléo said she wouldn’t ever fess up to him, but now she’s agreed to bet over who can get a better grade—” 

There was a sudden tapping on Erik’s shoulder, and he barely stifled a louder reaction from his startling. He glanced to his right to find Eleven looking at him oddly, with Sylvando sharing a similar expression over his shoulder. “Uhhh, do you see a ghost in there or something?” Sylvando asked.

Erik faltered for a second before opening his mouth to reply, but the sliding door opening interrupted his thoughts once again. He felt a prod of nervousness when he met the confused look of the short-haired girl standing in the doorway, who greeted him with an awkward “Um…hi.”

“Well whaddaya know!” chimed the sandy-haired girl, smiling slyly at Erik from behind her shorter-haired friend. “Doing what you do best, aren’t ya?”

_Did she know I was spying on them?_ Erik wondered, with more than a little surprise. He had expected an accusation in place of her amused acknowledgment, and now the timeliness of everything left him unsure what to say. Sylvando asked the next question in the sequence for him: “Oh, have you two met?”

“Nope!” the sandy-haired girl beamed, wedging herself between her short-haired friend and the door as she exited the classroom. “Love to stay and chat, but we’ve got some business to attend to.” She spared a glance for Eleven and Sylvando as she circled around them towards the stairs. "Maybe Maggie’ll have gotten started on her embroidering by now…” she muttered, seemingly to no one in particular.

The rest of the girls filed out of the classroom after their crimson-uniformed leader. The short hair girl’s look grew more puzzled as she left, Helen’s fruity look for Erik only grew fruitier at seeing Eleven as she circled around, while the shell slime only uttered a vague “Speak of the very devils!” as she hopped past them.

The long-haired girl was the last to leave, looking at Erik and Eleven inquisitvely as she stepped out into the hallway—but she breathed in sharply when her eyes fell on Sylvando. “Oh my Goddess—could you be...the Sterling Sylva!?”

The surprise on Sylvando’s face disappeared as soon as she said the name of his MMA persona. “Unfortunately, darling, you are not speaking to the Sterling Sylva himself,” he said, his eyes beginning to twinkle, “—but instead, his biggest fan!”

The girl’s eyes grew as wide as a pair of mini medals, and she squealed excitedly while hopping in place. “Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh! I thought I was his number one fan, but this is next level stuff! You’ve got his outfit, your voice is so close to his—and you’ve managed to copy his amazing physique! Oh my Goddess, you’ve gotta share everything you know about him right now!”

Sylvando raised a hand in a gesture of flattery. “Hmhm, it would be my pleasure, darling!” he beamed, before waving her forward as he turned towards the steps. “Now, while the Sterling Sylva may have achieved his figure through his own efforts, I’ve found that his routine is augmented by a few additions suggested by my warrior maiden friend…”

Erik let out a weary sigh as Sylvando and the girl rounded the corner. He met Eleven’s gaze, and his partner only smiled softly and shrugged, as if saying _What can you do?_

* * *

Later that evening, when Serena finally made her way down the steps into the refectory at dinnertime and laid eyes upon the bountiful meal laid out for them, she could only manage three words. “Oh… my goodness…”

Pink nightgown-dressed academy students were lined up in a uniform fashion before an absolute wealth of foods—crisp L'Académie-styled breads baked from Zwaardsrustian wheat, cream of vegetable soup, grilled Drasilian sausages, sweet bell pepper salad, steak tatares—and, most wonderful of all, the dessert at the far end of the serving line: the fluffy, scrumptiously spongy strawberry cakes from Gondolia!

Madeleine, the dinner monitor, had told Serena exactly what was on the evening’s menu right after lunch, and though the buttered ham sandwiches were rather filling after days of eating mostly seafood, hearing what was oncoming and smelling the variety of delectable aromas throughout the afternoon had transformed her stomach into a gaping maw. By now it had deepened into a bottomless pit, and Serena wanted nothing more than to eschew politeness and dig into everything the evening’s dinner offered.

And she would certainly need the hearty meal—gossip around one of the academy’s more troublesome students and the party’s inquiries throughout the day all pointed toward the presence of a silver sphere guarded by an elysium bird somewhere within a valley to the east. Whether it was one of the three remaining Orbs the party needed or something else, they would be setting out early tomorrow morning to investigate.

But now, of course, Serena could barely process what awaited them tomorrow compared to the fabulous meal she would soon indulge in. “Almighty Yggdrasil…” she breathed, unable to tear her eyes away from the serving line. “Veronica…I think She’s more than answered my prayers to have another opportunity to have those cakes… She’s allowed us a chance to partake in what could only be a sliver of a culinary paradise…”

Veronica’s tug on her hand jogged her from her trance enough to look down at her sister. “Come on, Serena, you’re embarassing yourself.” Veronica’s face was impassive, but her eager eyes belied a hunger that was just as ravenous as Serena’s. “You can’t be in culinary paradise if you aren’t even eating yet, so let’s get in line!”

Serena nodded and uttered a low sound of agreement without taking her eyes away from dinner. She felt her arm stretch as Veronica walked away, and she halfway allowed herself be guided along by her sister to the end of the line at the far side of the refectory. 

In spite of her qualms about being pegged as a new student throughout the day, Veronica enterened into conversation with the pair of students her size directly ahead of them in line with little trouble. As the line intermittently progressed, Serena eventually recovered from her impassioned trance to scan the room’s five tables, each occupied by two to four students in varying stages of their dinners. There were plenty of places for her and Veronica to eat with them; and though Serena wouldn’t mind interacting with L'Académie’s students some more, she hoped that they could secure a table for themselves. As she waited, her mind couldn’t help but drift towards Erik—the presence of Veronica and the other students would keep things far from a romantic dinner or even their times on the ocean, but it would still be wonderful for him to be around.

After a couple minutes, Serena heard voices from behind as other students got in line behind her. She glanced over her shoulder in idle curiosity, then turned sharply, bewildered at who she saw.

Serena blinked her eyes to make sure she was seeing things properly: the girl with the neat navy hair from earlier, conversing with someone who looked exactly like them! Serena was surprised at her shock—she had seen twins other than herself and Veronica a few times before, not to mention they had abused their likeness when they were younger to cause trouble back home—but the lack of divergence between the two girls before her now bordered upon uncanny. They shared the same red eyes, the same bob cut that neatly curled inwards; and from what Serena could hear, even their voices seemed to carry few differences between them.

She recovered from her surprise enough to send a low “Look, Veronica!” over her shoulder before inquiring after the newcomers. “Excuse me,” Serena began, smiling affably and waving a hand in greeting, “do you two ladies happen to be sisters?”

Both girls turned towards Serena then, and the momentary apprehension of the girl on the left marked her as the one she had seen with the crimson-uniformed girl earlier in the day. The one to Serena’s right returned a smile and said “That’s right! We’re identical twins, actually! Aren’t you two friends with the boy who was inducted just today?”

Serena responded with a nod as her sister looked up at the pair in amazement. “Wow, it’s not often that we run into other twins anywhere else,” Veronica said. At one of the girls’ confused looks she continued, “It might be hard to see thanks to some unusual circumstances, but we’re actually identical twins ourselves. I’m Veronica, and this is Serena.”

The navy-haired girls exchanged a glance before grinning at Serena and her sister. “I’m Cléo!” said the one on the left.

“And I’m Cloé!” said the one on the right.

“But on some days we forget which is which, so then I’ll go by Cloé!” said presumed-Cléo.

“Then I’ll be Cléo!” said presumed-Cloé.

“If you ever have trouble remembering who’s who, just remember that Cloé’s the clever one—”

“—and Cléo’s the clod!” the right girl finished without skipping a beat.

“It’s nice to meet you, friends of the Académie’s first honorary member!” they said in unison.

Serena stared at them in stunned silence for a few seconds, enough for her to barely notice the chuckles emitting around the refectory. The grins never left the other twins’ expressions.

“That’s some performance you two have there,” Veronica said, unfazed by Cléo and Cloé’s display. “Me and Serena can know what the other’s going to do from familiarity, but we’ve never gone as far as being able to do anything like that at the drop of a hat.”

“It’s not a performance,” presumed-Cléo replied.

“We’re just so in tune with each other—”presumed-Cloé said—

“—that we always know what the other is going to say!” 

“Just like I know that Cléo wants to tell you to hurry up and move forward, since the line’s advanced since you two have been standing there!”

“Yeah, and you two should take a few steps forward, because—hey!” Cléo said, sharply glancing to the right at her sister.

“Uh…okay?” Veronica said, her expression seemingly more than a little unnerved as she advanced in line. Cloé burst out into laughter at her sister’s sudden irritation, and Serena couldn’t help but laugh herself at the humor of the moment.

“Sorry if our demonstration was rather startling,” said Cloé. “We always love to pull that trick on new faces—even if we end up confusing ourselves half the time, the reactions we get from introducing ourselves like that is fabulously hilarious!”

“Oh no, don’t worry, we’ve caused more then our fair share of mischief back when it was harder for people discern between ourselves,” Serena clarified with a wave of her hand. “But goodness—I can’t believe the ease with which you two complete each other’s thoughts like that!”

“It’s not that amazing when you know the trick behind it,” Cloé replied. “I’m surprised you two aren’t able to do it yourselves.”

“Do what?” Veronica asked.

Perplexion appeared on Cléo and Cloé’s faces. “You two aren’t able to hear each other’s thoughts?”

Serena glanced at Veronica, the confusion in her sister’s expression showing the same lack of knowledge. “Not at all,” she answered. 

“This is the first time I’ve ever heard of this.” Veronica confirmed.

“Ah, well, our mother always used to tell us that since we were identical twins, we share the same leaf on Yggdrasil’s branches,” Cloé explained. “So since our spirits are practically inseparable, we always know what the other is going to say without needing to speak to each other.”

“Hmmm…” Serena thought back to what Father Benedictus had always said about the bond she shared with her sister. “Well, Veronica and I were always told we had a special connection when we were growing up, but if I’m not mistaken, it was because we shared the same branch on the World Tree’s boughs instead of a single leaf.”

“Huh... it could be that there’s different levels of connections based on how near someone’s spirit is to the other,” Veronica supposed.

“Well, even if it’s not as exact same like ours, sharing the same branch still sounds quite close,” said Cloé. “It’s not just knowing the other’s thoughts, you know—we can sense each other’s well-being at any given point, as well.”

“Oh yeah, we totally can!” Cléo chimed in. “Before we knew we could read each other’s thoughts, I could always hear this second heartbeat that wasn’t mine. I thought it was me going crazy, but it turns out it was just Cloé’s heartbeat. Maybe you two can feel the same thing between each other, too.”

“Really?” Veronica closed her eyes, her mouth becoming a hard line as she tried to focus. After a few seconds, she opened her eyes and said “I can’t hear anything.”

“It’s very quiet-sounding, so it might be hard to hear with everything going on around here,” Cloé said, gesturing to their surroundings. “Try closing your ears as best you can and try again.”

Veronica pressed her hands against her ears, clenched her eyes, and clamped her mouth shut as she tried to listen for Serena’s pulse, emanating a low drone all the while. After ten seconds she opened her eyes with a weary shake of her head. “Nothing.”

“Let me try,” Serena said. Her absentmindedness lent itself well to tuning the world around her out, so she thought she might have an easier time than her sister. Taking a deep breath, Serena pressed her hands to her ears as she closed her eyes. She tried her best to tune out the surrounding sounds of the refectory—the numerous voices of the surrounding chatter, clinks of utensils as they rapped against dishes, the sputters and sizzles coming from the food cooking in Madame Croque’s kitchen. Eventually she became aware of the rise and fall of her chest as she searched for the pulse of her sister, and soon Serena could hear only the stray thoughts swirling in her consciousness. It took a great deal of focus to regin her wandering attention into focusing only on what she could hear within herself.

After anticipating something akin to the rhythm of her heart for a dozen achingly long seconds, Serena was ready to give up—but then, right as she was about to let the sounds of the world wash over here once more, she could hear it. Instead of a gentle rise and fall of her own, Serena could sense a sort of tapping at the edge of her consciousness. Focusing solely on that tap gave it a sort weighty feeling—and Serena instantly recognized it as the forceful nature of her sister.

Serena felt a wide grin stretch across her face in the wake of that realization, and a delighted breath leapt from her throat as she opened her eyes. “Veronica! Veroinca! I can hear it!” she said excitedly, reaching down and taking her sister by the hands as she bounced on the balls of her feet.

Veronica let out a surprised yelp as she was jostled around. “Okay, okay—that’s good, Serena, calm down! We’ve got to move up in line!”

Serena released Veronica at her pleading, then chuckled at her sister’s sudden embarrassment. Veronica sighed as she recovered, and despite her modest smile Serena thought she could hear a tinge of disappointment to it. “You and your keen senses, huh? It’s nice that that’s there, but I can’t see that coming in handy much since there’s no chance of us being separated anytime soon.”

“Yes, but just being able to feel it is such a welcome comfort! You’ll see—I’ll try and show you before we go to bed tonight.” Serena turned sharply to Cléo and Cloé then, unable to contain her elation. “Thank you so much for telling us of this.”

Cloé expressed her gratitude with a nod. “You’re welcome! You two seem pretty close already, but it’s nice to know this’ll help you grow a little closer.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> <strike>_of the gem that is Dragon Quest XI, there are three cracks on an otherwise pristine surface. (Of course, this is unavoidable, no matter how flawless something might seem to be.) First, the stagnance of the school nestled within the branches of the birches._</strike>  
[UPDATE 20 July 2020: This was originally going to be one of three little blurbs I'd write in this so-called "cryptic" voice (like that one tiny line serving as story's description, but even more cryptic, à la the [book trilogy](https://archiveofourown.org/tags/The%20Broken%20Earth%20Series%20-%20N*d*%20K*d*%20Jemisin/works) I had finished reading at the time) that would hint at the biggest changes I'd made to the original story that weren't just adding on to it and the reasoning behind them. Between now and then, I've done a _lot_ of thinking about this game's story and how it works in the context of Dragon Quest as a series, and I've decided this and another change aren't really "fixing" important flaws as much as they are nitpicks, things I would've loved to see expanded upon, but aren't marks against DQXI given what the series has always tried to do. The one right after this one, though, is something I think is a _ridiculously_ wasted opportunity for this game's specific story—but given what this "change" is, what it was originally motivated by, and what this fanfiction will eventually be about (and even if fandoms aren't monoliths, I'm sure this particular opinion will be a spicy one in most of it regardless, lmao), it be a lot better if I just told it straight about why I made each choice.]
> 
> Seriously, the more I combed through L'Académie to write this chapter, the more of a travesty it seemed that it never really changes throughout the game—but, mini medal places have always been just goofy-optional-yet-useful diversions, and this one in particular has a _lot_ of moving parts that wouldn't be very relevant to the main plot. Still though—there's a indirect connection to a mostly-absent-yet-seemingly-really-important person in a certain warrior's princess life through one of the teacher NPCs, yet it all just gets stuffed into a tiny sidequest where she doesn't even get to react to it?
> 
> And yes, that is indeed a reference to [_that_](https://twitter.com/DQNoContext/status/1179105585477890049) artwork, from one of the Japan-exclusive voice drama DLCs.


	14. Orientation de L'Académie, Deux

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please note: this retelling takes place in an AU where elysium birds and their ilk are about half their actual size (and party wiped out if protagonist perishes enabled I suppose, lol), because I was almost done writing the eyrie when I learned those things are actually [_a lot_ bigger](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50630165917_4b186e175b_b.jpg) than what classic camera mode might suggest.
> 
> [Shoutouts to a certain old spoony bard for inspiring Serena's song in this chapter.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MwsNgEKkgI)
> 
> ...does it qualify as OC if you take an NPC who has only twenty-something lines of dialogue and give them a fully-fledged personality?

When he stepped outside the refectory door the next morning after the party had arrived at L'Académie, Erik was pleasantly surprised when the sound of Serena’s lyre drifted towards him, as if in greeting.

Surprised, since the few times he hadn’t been sleepy enough to see her practically dragging her trident behind Jade every morning when they got up for practice or Dave hadn’t been awake by then, seeing Serena fully rested and awake was a little unusual. Then again, that was probably partly his fault, since their nighttime conversations over the past week sometimes stretched long past when the moon reached its peak.

Pleasant, because of how she was now—sitting on one of the swings dangling under the big oak tree on the western end of the school grounds, playing her lyre as the early morning shadows began to brighten. Her fingers danced across her lyre’s strings to make a melody that was faster than usual, yet the delicacy of each strum seemed to echo in the song’s slight sadness. Even with her soft smile, the way her eyes were firmly shut showed how much energy she seemed to devote towards each and every song. 

It wasn’t that far away from how Mia could get at times, what with her single-minded ambition to get a bunch of money. That kind of drive was nice to see, but with all the the problems she tended to cause—not to mention how much good doing the same thing hadn't done him over the years—it seemed to Erik a whole lot more trouble than it was worth. At least Serena didn’t devote herself to a bunch of nonsense.

Erik’s mind latched onto a stray thought of Serena somehow managing to take part in one of his past thieving escapades. With fingers as deft as those, she probably wouldn’t be too bad at picking a lock or two. He could imagine Serena crouched down beside him within the shadows of the night as they scoped out an oncoming caravan, a scruffy cloak tossed over her head despite still wearing her tidy green kirtle and dress. He smiled at the discrepancy before heading towards her.

“You’re early,” Erik said when she looked up at his approach.

Instead of surprise, Serena’s smile only seemed to grow in satisfaction. “Are you sure it’s early for me as it is late for you?” she asked playfully.

“Believe me, I’ve been on both sides of the clock when it comes to being tired. Depends on if there’s something to keep me busy or not.”

“Well, since there’s no ship for you to maintain, I suppose you ought to be mindful of your drowsiness, shouldn’t you, Captain?”

“I guess I should,” Erik chuckled, drawing a light laugh from Serena as well.

“So,” she began, “strange looks from the students aside, how do you feel about L'Académie?”

Erik crossed his arms as he thought back to all the oddities he had witnessed yesterday that came from a bunch of girls being stuffed together in a school about small medals. “This place is so weird. I was into collecting those silly mini medals for a while not too long ago, but this school just takes that to a whole new level. Plus, thinking about all the learning these girls have to do for all that other stuff jut gives me a headache. It looks like there’s more kinds of girls than just stuck-up snobs living here though, which is nice.” He breathed out a weary sigh at his next thought. “Can’t help but wonder if Mia would have liked it here. Obsessing over a bunch of tiny medals sounds right up her alley, but I can’t really tell if she’d fit in with anyone else here.”

“Do you think she would have liked anything other than collecting medals?” Serena asked.

Erik paused, his gaze wandering over the multitude of flowers stretched across the grounds, and he smiled despite feeling a twine of wistfulness. “She liked flowers a little. We had a little garden in a place we stayed, and she was the one who had the idea of making it in the first place, but after a couple weeks she couldn’t be bothered to take care of any of them. Guess who was the one who ended up keeping them?”

Serena’s giggled in place of her affirmation. “That’s how you knew how those flowers atop the headmaster’s hut were kept yesterday, isn’t it?”

“Yep,” Erik confirmed. “At least we know she’d actually learn how to take care of something if she ended up here.” He turned back towards Serena, his gaze settling on her trident lying atop her red sack on the ground. “Jade’s still sleeping?”

Serena nodded, concern growing in her expression. “She didn’t return to our room until much later in the evening. I think she spent all her time after dinner speaking with the lady who gave her that little red bow in the box Eleven returned to her.”

“This is the second time she’s slept in, isn’t it? You’d think she’d still be on top of things what with how she had you out on the deck like clockwork every morning. She’s slacking off.”

“And certainly you think her sleeping in for two days in a row would give you enough of an edge over her to win if you two dueled again?”

“Probably.”

Serena held his gaze, her smile growing mischievous. “Are you sure?”

Erik’s chin began to throb, and he indulged in a sudden itch on his neck. “…okay, not really.” Serena laughed airily at his admission, the lack of malice in it causing a smile to grow on his face despite his warming cheeks. Jade dethroning him as the best scrapper in the party had always been a sour subject with how much she and Veronica tended to taunt him with it, but the lighthearted way Serena always poked fun at him about it was a welcome relief from everyone else’s abrasiveness. He still couldn’t help a slight throb of annoyance, though. Pointedly, he asked, “Well, what about you?”

“What about me?”

“Two days in a row is going to mess with your practice routine, isn’t it? Don’t you want to keep sharp for what’s coming today?”

Serena pouted at him. “I am perfectly fine with enjoying a relaxing morning before we venture into a hostile environment, thank you very much.”

“C’mon, you can’t even bother to show me what you’ve learned? You know I’m too tired to stay out there whenever Dave comes up in the morning to take over.”

“Well, maybe you should have found other ways to keep yourself occupied so that you could stay up so late in the morning!” Despite her snark, a mirthful grin was plastered on Serena’s face as she raised herself from the swing. “But since you asked so nicely, I believe I can expend _some_ effort to show you some of the things I’ve learned.”

_Yeah, she’s definitely Veronica’s sister,_ Erik thought humorously as Serena gently placed her lyre atop her things and picked up her trident. They traded places, Erik taking her seat while she took his previous place right in front of the swing.

Instead of diving into the practice drills he caught glimpses of before he slept the mornings away, she demonstrated the specifics of the few techniques she had picked up from Jade so far. Most of them were purely physical, like the prodding downwards stab they liked to use on orcs and other beasts or the spinning sweep Jade used to hit a crowd, so Serena needed to put more of her weight behind her strikes to make up for the lack of precision her teacher had from years of experience. Funnily enough, even though her wanting to learn how to protect herself had shifted from him to Jade, Erik noticed that she seemed to favor her left hand, same as him, despite taking care of all her healing business with her right hand when she wielded wands.

Weirdly, one of the things Serena showed him didn’t really involve her spear—all she had to do was hold a couple fingers in front of her forehead for a moment, point the blue light that grew there somewhere in space, and the concentrated holy energy would smite whatever undead soul was unfortunate enough to take it. All her experience with holiness she had before gave her one of the few innate edges she had over Jade—Erik had seen the warrior princess do the same thing against a hapless deadnaut over in Zwaardsrust, but it took closer to two whole seconds for her to do what Serena could in a fraction of one.

When she had shown him a couple demonstrations of those, Erik asked, “Just those three?”

Serena stood her spear on the ground. “Those are all the ones I’ve gotten a grasp over so far,” she said, her expression growing sheepish. “There was one more she had begun to teach me, but that was on the day before we made landfall, so it’s not very developed.”

Erik chuckled at her reluctance. “That’s why you’re supposed to practice this stuff every morning,” he said emphatically, waving an appeasing hand at her resulting glare. “Don’t worry, I know you’ve probably still got some leftover land sickness. Still, now’s a good time as ever to get some practice in, isn’t it?” 

Serena’s cheery smile returned from his reassurance, and she nodded before taking her spear in both hands again. “I won’t be able to give a full demonstration, but I can at least show you what the proper execution looks like. Have you ever noticed sometimes when you strike a monster normally, they’ll suddenly stagger backwards as if they had taken a mighty blow regardless of how much force you put into it?"

“Those lucky strikes that always happen when you least expect them? All the time.”

“Well, apparently this technique allows one to bypass luck to perform them at will!” Serena fell into her ready stance, knees slightly bent and trident slanted a little downwards. “Unfortunately, it takes quite a bit of time to channel the energy needed to perform it. Jade says it ends up being rather unreliable since many monsters are smart enough to avoid it when they see the preparation, but it’s more than worth it when it hits—the energy focused in the strike is able to pierce through the defense of any enemy! Like so…”

She turned her gaze from Erik to the clear space bordering the garden plot. He watched closely as she went through the motions: without moving her feet, Serena shifted most of her weight to her right foot while pulling her spear back slightly. In the space of that second of preparation, Erik thought he could see the tip of her trident glow as she readied her strike until she suddenly thrust her spear forward with a single long step—

Serena leaned forward into her lunge enough for her back foot to leave the ground, and she fell forward onto the ground with a yelp. 

“Whoa!” Erik's enthusiasm shifted to concern as he shot from the swing to crouch beside her. “You okay?” 

Serena whimpered as she raised herself to her knees. She immediately looked away when Erik tried to meet her eyes, her cheeks red with an expression like she had embarrassed herself in front of an entire classroom. “I suppose I still should be keeping up with my routine, shouldn’t I?” she said, awkwardly moving a lock of hair back behind her ears.

Erik couldn’t tell if she was speaking out of self-consciousness or self-consolation, and he smiled warmly at the discrepancy. “C’mon, nobody ever really makes the first few marks they try to hit,” he said gently. “Keep at it.”

Serena’s cheeks seemed to redden even more at his words, and she let out a shy chuckle. Behind the nervousness in her eyes, Erik could see an eagerness there, kind of like how kids always seemed to have whenever they made some kind of unimportant discovery but wanted to pester everyone else about it. It tended to be annoying when it came from Mia or anyone else her age; but from Serena, with how genuine she seemed about everything, Erik could only find it endearing.

After holding his gaze for a few moments, Serena’s nervousness seemed to grow, her expression growing more abashed as she followed her now-lowered hand to her lap. Her eyes wavered as if searching for the answer to some unseen question, but they steadied as she clasped her hands. “Erm…Erik?” she began, her reluctant tone posing it as a question.

“What’s up, Rena?” he asked, curious at her change in bearing.

“I…well, we’ve traveled with everyone for quite some time now, enough for us to get to know each other and share such wonderful experiences together, in spite of the troubles we’ve faced along the way and the urgency of needing to reach Yggdrasil, but I…” Serena paused, blinking as she considered her words. “Well, even without considering all the time we spent on the ship at night, I think I… Above everything else, I’ve very much enjoyed the time spent with you the most, and so I…” She suddenly looked up, her eyes insistent as they met his. “Erik, I need to tell you, I—”

A gasp leapt from Serena’s throat at the creak of the refectory door opening, and she immediately turned in its direction. Erik shared in her same surprise and followed her gaze, expecting one of their companions to step out from behind the raised bushes bordering the door into the early morning light.

Instead, the side of a girl’s head poked out from behind the bushes’ edge, the sandy color of their thick hair immediately recognizable to Erik. “Pssssst! Any L'Académie kids or teachers out here with you guys?”

Her strange question only raised the confusion Erik felt at Serena’s deep sigh, and he glanced at her to find relief etched on her face before looking back at the refectory door. “Uh, no?”

Despite his assurance, the sandy-haired girl craned her neck one way then the other to scan the school grounds, her eyes keenly narrowed when they crossed over him and Serena. Even when she moved out from behind the bush—still dressed for sleeping in her pink nightgown—she still maintained her suspicion as she looked every which way while padding towards them.

Erik stood at the girl’s approach, weighing how this initial direct encounter might play out with what little he knew about her. The wariness in her expression gave way to uncertainty as Erik could make it out, but the way she walked with both hands on her hips hinted at a haughtiness he got more than enough of with Veronica. In her favor, she was one of the few students who hadn’t immediately shied away from his appearance, but he was still suspicious, especially with all the inscrutably sly smirks she had sent his way the few times he had seen her yesterday.

When her gaze finally settled on him and Serena, a handful of emotions cycled on her face—a flash of that same mischief when her red almond-shaped eyes met his, bemusement when they shifted to Serena as she stood beside him, perplexity as they wavered between them both, until the latter two melded into one as she raised an eyebrow. “Where’s your silky-haired friend?” she asked.

Erik raised an eyebrow of his own at the unexpected question. “Eleven? Still sleeping.”

The sandy-haired girl palmed her forehead, hanging her head backwards with a frustrated groan. “I can’t figure why everyone in this school fancies those strong silent types so much. I swear, every single one of them wouldn’t ever pay attention to you unless you yelled at ‘em like a mother waking up her kid in the morning…” She furtively glanced back towards the refectory door and muttered, “Guess there isn’t much to do at this point…” Her expression regained some of its sharpness as it returned to Erik. “He okay with taking requests?”

Erik stared at her for a moment. “Requests?”

The girl sighed as if the answer was completely obvious. “You know! Re-_quests!_” she said with an emphatic twirl of her hand. “You guys are a part of a globetrotting band of adventurers, right? You can’t say no, since I already caught you following us up the drive with all them weapons and gear before recital yesterday morning. If there’s one thing ragtag adventurers are always willing to do, it’s take care of business for folks who can’t, and guess what—I’m one of ‘em. And since your silent friend is supposedly the head of this gang, I’ve gotta make sure this message reaches him.” She fell into a squat, placing her hands on her knees and leaning forward feistily. “So? Does he take ‘em?”

Erik narrowed his eyes in suspicion. As far as he knew, he had never met this girl before in in this entire life, yet something about her seemed profoundly familiar—and for some reason, he didn’t like it. Before he could say something, Serena spoke up from beside him, “Yes, Eleven typically does, but we likely won’t be able to fulfill it immediately if it’s urgent.” Her bearing had returned to its normal placidity. “We’re supposed to be leaving for the valley to the east of here when he and the rest of our companions have awoken.”

The sandy-haired girl’s eyes immediately lit up. “Oh, sweet! Let me guess, you guys have one of those Fun-Size Forge things, yeah?”

Serena nodded. “Mmhmm. We get most of our equipment by way of Eleven forging them himself with that little contraption.”

“That works out perfectly!” the girl exclaimed, pumping a fist. “Alright, here’s the deal: I caught wind of your friend digging up that box in the garden, so I reckon he’s got eyes like a hawk. Can’t seem to find catch any narspicious up around here, but apparently they’re pretty common around the world, so maybe you guys have a bunch of those already, I dunno. But when you guys make your way through the valley, there’s one of those blue hunks of rock sticking out from the ground that drop some ore when you whack ‘em hard enough, so if you could—” 

“Wait, wait, wait, slow down,” Erik interrupted, already growing sick of this girl’s long winded spiel. “We aren’t just any bunch of errand runners, y’know. You’re already trying to lump us with some grunt work, and we don’t even know who the heck you are. So why don’t you start there?”

The girl raised a finger as she opened her mouth for a retort, but paused as she considered his words. “You’re right, you’re right,” she muttered. She looked away for a few moments, then suddenly snapped back towards him with a rowdy look. “I’m Zazie, the leader of the roughest, toughest girl gang in the Académie! We live by a single rule—don't do bad things to good people, but stuff the rest of them!

“Except…” Zazie said, her expression souring, “Problem is, I’ve gone and broken it. You guys ever met Madame Waloppe, my form teacher? Black hair, has ‘ze’ accent, actually dresses the part?”

The description matched the lady he had seen Zazie scampering away from yesterday morning, which was the first time she had seen either of them. Serena chimed in, “Oh, my sister and I had the opportunity to watch one of her lessons on mini medal history yesterday afternoon! She seems like a sweet lady.”

Zazie adopted a rueful frown. “Hmph, she might seem all sweetness and light, but if you get on her bad side, she’ll be on you like butter on a loaf of bread. Still, she is one of the good ones though, most of the time, but I uh…” She ruffled her hair as she nervously glanced to the side. “I might have…stolen her favorite queen’s whip and…_accidentally_…tossed it down the…er…you know…”

“The stream?” Serena guessed.

“Yeah! Yeah, we’ll go with that.” Zazie said, wagging a finger in agreement. “Anyway, nobody knows we took it, and she doesn’t really use it as much as you’d think, so she probably doesn’t know it’s gone—but with my luck she’ll probably end up needing it for some rubbish, and when she finds out it was me, she’ll have my guts for garters. I’d have figured out a way to get her a new one as soon as I’d tossed the other one, but it turns out you can only make them with a Fun-Size Forge, so…”

Erik crossed his arms. “Let me get this straight,” he said skeptically. “You want us to go out and go through all the effort of finding the stuff to replace something that you pilfered?”

Zazie’s grin was full of mischief. “You got that right! I’m sure you’re familiar with all that, since its just as fitting for stuff to get stolen as it is for people to actually buy things where you come from, isn’t it?”

Even if Zazie—and everyone else—didn’t know about his frigid origins, Erik still couldn’t help the prickle of surprise at her being the first to assume where he had came from. He narrowed his eyes. “How’d you figure I was from Heliodor?”

“Come on, you’re sticking out like a sore thumb in your little band! I’ll admit, all of you guys are just one big melting pot of mismatching, but look at you, dressed like you’re fitting to run off with everyone’s panties! And that hair—I wouldn’t want to nick any of my fingers on that pointy mane.”

Erik’s attention was diverted at Serena’s sudden giggle, but he simply rolled his eyes. “Okay, but that doesn’t answer my question.”

Zazie only released a sly chuckle at his insistence. “You really want to know? Get your friend to take care of this little issue for me, and I’ll tell you.”

By now, this girl was quickly getting close to contending Veronica in being the most irritating person Erik had ever dealt with. “We aren’t in the business of doing the dirty work to fix a troublemaker’s silly problems. Why don’t you just do it yourself?”

“You think I’m not trying?” Zazie retorted, her expression indignant. “You guys caught us trying to scrounge around for the stuff to make the thing again right before we had to be at our morning recital! And it’s not like I would’ve needed to nick the whip in the first place if it weren’t for L'Académie’s stupid traditions anyway! When Candida gave you the tour, did she tell you guys about the senior trip, how we all get to travel around the world in our final year?”

“She did,” Serena replied, her expression still cool despite the unrest of the conversation. “From what I’ve heard from your classmates, it’s a wonderful opportunity to experience the world without any troubles.”

“Oh yeah, everyone loves to talk about how peachy they think it is, but what they don’t tell ya is how many snags these trips end up running into. She won’t admit it herself, but miss chef de classe couldn’t even look at any of our monster classmates for a week straight after she got back! They don’t want us to talk about it, since it’s pretty dang insensitive to point fingers, but I already know—being ‘symbols of grace and beauty’ isn’t going to keep a bunch of wild monsters from getting you tossed in a coffin.

“You guys are going after something in the Eerie Eyrie since you heard about someone almost getting her eyes plucked out by one of the birds from over there? That was Livvie, she’s one of my girls, the one with the big black pigtails—and maybe if the headmaster wasn’t such a pansy, then we wouldn’t have to worry about needing to be protected in the first place!”

“What the heck does any of this have to do with you stealing your teacher’s whip?” Erik asked wearily.

“What do you think? Showing my girls how to hold their own, that’s what!” Zazie vigorously asserted. “Classmate or teacher or monster, I’ll sod myself off before I let one of my girls get messed with—and from what I’ve seen from ragtag travelers like you, teaching them how to bite back is the way to go against wild monsters!” She paused for a moment, her vehemence suddenly fading away. “Too bad I’m not as sharp with a whip like I thought I was, else that bugger of a spiked hare wouldn’t have managed to yank the thing apart after it got twisted ‘round its horn…” Zazie’s head drooped, and she sighed as if she had failed some important task. “Anyway. That’s the jam I’m in. I’m not trying to get anyone else in trouble, but if I could save my own skin from getting flayed by Waloppe, I’d take it.” She looked back up at Erik pleadingly. “So? Can you let your friend know so I don’t end up the creek?”

Erik didn’t think about his response. “No.”

“Oh, for the love of—look, I forgot to mention: I know a lot of people who give out these odd jobs like to give out some kinda reward for your trouble, and trust me—I can make it worth your while.”

“No,” Erik repeated, firmly this time.

Zazie produced a frustrated grumbling sound. “Come on, Spiky! I thought all thieves were always eager to do things to get something out of people!?”

Erik felt a pulse of annoyance at her assumption. “First of all, the only one who actually benefits from us doing these odd jobs is Eleven, and he always puts the rewards towards helping us travel better—not to mention he’s never taken up any requests like this. Second, if there’s one thing I’ve learned about troublemakers, it’s that if you don’t let them own up to their problems, then they’re just going to keep on causing them.”

“I already told you, this is me trying to fix the problem!” Zazie exclaimed with an emphatic sweep of her hand. “And how is this any different from any of the other requests you guys have taken on already?”

“We aren’t trying to fix something that shouldn’t have been a problem in the first place,” Erik said pointedly.

“Technically speaking, Erik,” Serena chimed in, “plenty of the quests we’ve taken up have been solving issues that shoudn’t have been in the first place.”

Erik opened his mouth to respond, but paused as he considered Serena’s remark. “Okay that’s probably true, but come on, Rena—have any of them been as silly as this one?”

Serena frowned at him. “Well, I don’t know how you feel about it, but I find having to search an entire town for a poor man whose presence goes unnoticed by everyone around him to be just as silly.” 

“That fighter guy hiding in some random corner of Octagonia? Yeah, he was lonely, but that was his entire thing, wasn’t it?”

“It may have been, but if he knew he had at least one person supporting him, he wouldn’t have been so unhappy, would he?”

“Yeah.”

“What about that nobleman on vacation back at Puerto Valor, the one whose wife was being so adamant so that she could get her husband to pay more attention to her? Was that one unnecessary?”

“Well, no, but—”

“And what about that man we met on the beach? Would Jade have needed to dress up in such a strange outfit if he didn’t have such unusual desires?”

Erik actually didn’t mind seeing Jade in that bunny suit, but he knew both her and Serena probably wouldn’t be too happy if they somehow managed to find out about that. He let out a conceding sigh. “Alright, I see where this is going.”

Zazie’s satisfied chuckle grated Erik’s ears. “It’s nice that we’ve got a voice of reason to help you see some sense,” she said with a smirk. “So, you gonna let your friend know?”

“Yeah, sure, whatever,” Erik said with a dismissive wave.

“Wicked! Like I was saying, it shouldn’t be that much of a pain to cobble the whip together, since you only need three things: a sprig of narspicious, a couple pieces of mirrorstone, and a green eye. Those untrustworthy-looking plants are apparently a dime a dozen everywhere, so you probably don’t need much help finding those; same with the green eye—go talk to Racheal when she gets up, she runs the Académie shop, she sells all of those little gems. And for the mirrorstone, you can pick some up on the way to the Eyrie. There’s one of those big shiny chunks of rock sitting by the stream, and if you give it a hard enough whack some should pop right out. Toss ‘em all in your forge, and bob’s your uncle—you got yourselves a shiny new queen’s whip.”

“Some narspicious, a green eye, and two pieces of mirrorstone,” Serena repeated. She smiled at Zazie. “Alright, I’ll be sure to let Eleven know!”

“Radical!” Zazie exclaimed, languidly lifting herself from her squat. “Heh, if I would’ve known you were such a smart lady, I wouldn’t have bothered with this stubborn bugger here. Rena, yeah?”

Serena’s cheeks tinged pink as she glanced towards Erik. “It’s Serena, actually.”

Zazie followed her glance, a hint of recognition flashing in her eyes before returning to Serena. “Okay then. Serena. Spiky. Pleasure meeting you. Go and give those birds the pit for us girls, alright? I’ll try to hang around here through the day for when you get back.” She arched her back and stretched her legs before turning back towards the Académie, her steps slightly springer than when she had first appeared.

“Isn’t she one of the girls you said was making joking remarks with their friends about you?” Serena asked when Zazie was out of earshot.

“More like the ringleader,” Erik answered. “Her and her gang of pals were the only people that could look at me straight in the entire school yesterday, but it didn’t lead to much other than a bunch of weird gawking.”

“Given how many of the girls have been acting around Eleven, it seems as if that’s something typical of girls their age.”

Erik watched as the door closed behind Zazie, still unable to dismiss his lingering irritation now that she was gone. He still couldn’t parse where he would have recognized her from before, if he even actually did, and it left him feeling frustrated. “I don’t know. I can’t put my finger on it, but something about that girl seems too familiar—I feel like I’ve met her before, yet I’m pretty sure I never have, and I don’t like it.”

“Well, familiarity or otherwise, that didn’t warrant being so rude to her, did it?” Serena asked glumly.

“No, probably not,” Erik sighed. He had to admit, even if she was as loud as Veronica on a bad day, Zazie at least seemed to be willing to admit her problems, which was miles ahead of Serena’s sister. He was glad Serena was there, though. Who knows how nasty things might have gotten if he ended up in a spat with another brash girl he didn’t know? “You know that girl’s probably about the same age as you, right?”

Serena fell back into her usual lightheartedness with a giggle. People always tend to assume that I’m older than I actually am because of my personality. I’d like to think I’d fit right in with the Médamoiselles Magnifiques.”

“Those girls practicing how to pick up a mini medal for half the day yesterday? I don’t know—those girls seem way too puffed up for someone like you,” Erik said dubiously.

“Are you saying that I can’t carry myself to be a dedicated disciple of grace and elegance?” Serena asked with a pout.

Erik smirked at her. “Nah, I can already tell—that Zazie girl would probably find a way to rope you into her crowd whether you liked it or not.”

“Well, given how you don’t seem to like her, I’ll have you know I wouldn’t mind being taken under Zazie’s wing, either!”

“Hey, either option would be fine with me. Anything that helps you fit in at a place like this has got to be a good thing. Plus, if Zazie’s as troublesome as I think she is, you’d probably want to be on her side if any bickering got out of hand.”

And now that Erik thought about it, he was starting to think that Mia probably wouldn’t have too much trouble fitting in, either…

* * *

The world before Serena was a chaos of battle and fluttering feathers.

Her eyes darted between each of her companions as they engaged what remained of the near dozen condors that had assaulted them when they reached the craggy overlook at the top of the Eyrie. They had formulated a strategy for dealing with the trickiness of aerial enemies when they explored the Insula Algarum just three days ago, but their plan had fallen apart at the sheer number of hades condors, leaving everyone frantically scrambling to keep each other safe as condors assailed them from all directions.

By now, having reduced the enemy’s numbers to close to half, Serena and the party had mostly fallen back onto their usual pairings. At the far end of the clearing where the silver orb was lodged within a gnarled tree trunk was Jade, her lightning lance remaining on her back like Serena’s as she aimed the sweeps of her legs high at a pair of condors. Rab juggled between assisting her and keeping near a mortified Sylvando, the jester’s distate for birds leaving him to lash out at enemies from afar as he broke in the recently-forged queen’s whip. Erik and Eleven kept close to each other, the thief keeping their assailants clear with feinted strikes as his partner aimed streaks of lightning with his cautery sword.

A low rush of wind howled above the battle’s cacophony in Serena’s ears, and her eyes snapped towards the flash of purple at the edge of her vision as a condor swooped above them. “From the left!” she said quickly.

“Got it!” came her sister’s reply as she hopped to the side. Serena’s pulse skipped as the hades condor’s attack swept past where she stood a moment before. She readied herself to move once more as the bird reoriented itself towards her, but it suddenly let out a wavering screech as a chunk of ice from Veronica struck it. It began to dissolve as it fell limply to the ground, and she rushed through the dust back to Serena’s side with a relieved grin.

Serena flashed a grateful smile before returning her attention to the rest of the party, her momentary relief quashed as she saw Erik stagger back from a condor’s strike without a blue aura to fortify him. She did the best to ignore the rending of her heart as she called upon her magic, channeling through her jolly brolly to send a streak of healing his way. At a distant cry from Jade, Serena channeled another towards her, then scanned the battlefield for any significant injuries before Buffing Erik anew for good measure.

The redundant feel of her trident on her back weighed increasingly upon as her friends fought on. Many of the enemies they had faced on the way to the summit weren’t too troublesome to handle, giving her an opportunity to keep her comrades safe with more than just support, but with Rab having to pick up where Sylvando faltered, the onus had fell mostly on Serena to keep the party healthy. Her heart hammered against her chest, charged by two anxieties—one natural within the heat and uncertainty of battle, the other at her lack of practice at healing magic with how much focus she had devoted to spear training over the past weeks. If any of her companions fell, it would be almost entirely because of her; and Serena was determined to make certain that didn’t happen.

Exhaustion had begun to creep upon her, but fortunately the number of condors seemed to be steadily falling. Veronica launched another icicle at a condor on the far side of the clearing, and Jade finished off the staggered bird with another of her backflipping kicks. Serena’s attention was drawn to another crack of thunder, seeing a stunned condor as one of Eleven’s bolt beams struck true. Shortly after, another fell after a reprisal from one of Rab’s crow claws, and Serena’s anxiety seemed to dwindle as another dissolved at a lashing from Sylvando’s whip.

Sylvando quickly scanned the battlefield in the wake of his enemy’s defeat, his eyes passing over Serena, but they almost immediately snapped somewhere behind her. “Rena! Ronnie! Look out!” he yelled.

Serena swiftly turned on her heel, then found herself diving to the side as a brighter-colored bird lanced right between her and her sister with a shrill caw. She expected to find the elysium bird bearing down on her once more, but the flock’s leader swooped forward and upward as she raised her head. It splayed its limbs outward with a screech, and Sylvando cried out in pain as a large wall of fire erupted in his path, dividing the clearing in two. The bird reoriented towards Serena’s right, extending its talons as it prepared to lunge downwards—

Her gaze snapped to the end of its arc, where Erik and Eleven’s attentions were focused on a single hades condor. Serena frantically called out, “Erik! Eleven! Above you!”

Erik reacted to her call in a split second, glancing up and dodging away towards the pile of branches ringing the clearing—but Eleven wasn’t nearly as fortunate, recovering after blocking a strike from the condor. His attempt at raising his magic shield was too slow, and the elysium bird’s downward lunge took him in the shoulder. Eleven immediately retaliated with his sword, but his avian enemy smoothly avoided his attack and struck down with both talons, the Luminary’s sword and shield falling away from his hands as he was knocked onto his back. Erik cried his partner’s name as he fell, but the hades condor was quick to divert his attention once again, keeping him from helping Eleven.

A surge of panic arose in Serena. Save Veronica, who was too frail to directly engage in combat, everyone else was preoccupied with condors of their own, unable to help Eleven. Her mind raced as the elysium bird swooped up for another strike—if the Luminary fell, their journey wouldn’t just be over, they would be losing their fearless leader, the reason they had been brought together, the only hope the world had against the encroaching darkness.

And most pressing of all—if he fell, Serena would have failed in her duty as one of his sacred protectors, the task that had been bestowed upon her not just by her by the Keepers of Arboria, but by Yggdrasil Herself.

At that thought, Serena knew what she had to do. She stuffed her wand into her skirt with her right as she drew her gold trident from her back with her left. She ignored her sister’s calls, discarding all notions of saftey as she took it in both hands and rushed towards the Luminary. She closed in on Eleven as he weakly began to raise himself from the ground while the elysium bird reached the peak of its windup then lunged down with its talons extended…

Serena skidded to a stop in the bird’s path, barely raising her trident in time to intercept its attack. The elysium bird clamped down on her trident with its huge claws, forcing her to dig her heels into the ground to wrestle with its surprisingly superior weight as it tried to pull backwards. With a grunt, she pulled what force she could from her body to yank her trident down to the side, and the bird let go to avoid being slammed to the ground. As Serena recovered from her heave, her knot of panic twisted as it flapped upward for another attack.

For a fleeting moment, time seemed to slow to a crawl. In the space of a single heartbeat, Serena saw one of the bird’s talons raised slightly higher than the other as it prepared to lash out. With that, her body seemed to move on its own as the bird lunged downward with its left claw—she leaned into her step as she tilted to her right, bringing her spear to that side as she evaded its attack. Poised to retaliate with all her weight on one side, Serena _stepped_ onto her left foot and put as much force as she could into the swing of her trident.__

_ __ _

__

Her attack grazed its wing and struck home on its flank, and the elysium bird shrieked as it rapidly beat its wings backwards. The exhilaration Serena felt at her chance maneuver waned as it quickly recovered and prepared to strike back, and fear took hold of her as she preemptively stumbled out of its way.

The elysium bird suddenly recoiled to the side as another of Veronica’s icicles shattered on its side, then forward at a whiplash on its flank. It flailed in the air as it whirled around, and Serena followed to find a healthy Sylvando thanks to an unoccupied Rab, while Jade sprinted across the clearing right towards their enemy. The warrior princess ducked under its lunge with ease and leapt up with another Harvest Moon, and the elysium bird released a paltry shriek as it flopped to the ground before Serena, dissolving into dust.

Serena surveyed above and around the clearing for more enemies and found none remaining. The battle won, she closed her eyes, feeling the tension built up within her leave with a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding in. Her trident in her hands dipped towards the ground as the excitement departed, leaving only weariness in its wake. 

Her ears perked up at the sound of quick footfalls from her left, and Serena opened her eyes to see Veronica scampering towards her, her sister's eyes lit up in astonishment. “Serena! That was amazing!” she exclaimed.

Serena could only feel a burst of pride at her sister’s unfiltered praise, if a little taken aback from how rare it was. “Thank you…” she said weakly, her rattled nerves limiting her own enthusiasm.

If her sister noticed her reluctance, she didn’t show it as she swiftly turned towards Jade standing in front of her. “Jade! When did you teach Serena how to do that!?”

“I haven’t shown her that at all yet,” Jade replied, surprise visible in her wide eyes despite her inquisitive smile. “I’m just as surprised as you are. I didn’t think my spear wouldn’t be nearly as useful with all these evasive birds, but here she is, simply waiting and moving and striking right back. Very impressive…”

“I’ll say!” Veronica said, beaming with a hand on her hip. “I’d thought I would have needed to save both her and Eleven’s skins when she rushed to help him; but wow, did that throw me for a loop!”

Serena let out a trembling laugh, but paused at her sister’s mention of Eleven. She turned to find the Luminary wearily sitting up on the ground from his fall, massaging his shield arm with his right. He met her concerned gaze, the small smile forming on his face an easily readable communication: _I’m okay._

A hand fell on Serena’s shoulder, and feeling the gloved palm through her puffy sleeve gave away Erik’s identity before she could even look in his direction. The radiant grin combined with the gratitude in his bright blue eyes set Serena’s heart aflutter. “‘While we live, none shall defeat you,’ huh?” he said, cheerily reciting the words of her sacred oath. “Good stuff, Rena.”

Erik’s warm words were a Kazing to Serena’s body, a rush of elation flooding through her to wash over her lingering exhaustion and push any thoughts of the recently concluded battle to the back of her head. She felt as if she could zip around the clearing in a split second while threatening to burst from the seams at that same excitement. A myriad of romantic rejoinders rose to the tip of her tongue, one of them waiting to be used in response to his words, but the only thing Serena could manage was a tilt of her head and a vague sound of grateful acknowledgment.

Even after he had removed his hand to step towards Eleven, Serena still couldn’t wrench her eyes away from Erik. He had placed a hand on her shoulder! He had initiated the physical contact this time! Sure, she was still somewhat disappointed with herself for shying away from announcing her true feelings to him after Zazie had left them alone in the morning, but this was an absolutely wonderful sign! If there was any confirmation she needed that he was warming up to her even more, this certainly had to be it.

She continued to watch as Erik hefted Eleven up from the ground, then went to retrieve his partner’s shield lying amidst the branches ringing the clearing like the sweetheart he was. She watched Erik’s lips move as he responded to something, but Serena’s couldn’t process his words—it felt like her heart was melting with pleasure at imagining the feel of them when they inevitably ended up pressed against hers as they—

“Hey! Earth to Serena!” Veronica’s bark yanked Serena back from her trace, the heat in her cheeks suddenly becoming apparent when she looked at her sister. “Your skirt’s not inside out, pull yourself together!” she said, gesturing towards Erik and Eleven.

Her sister’s divergent remark likely diverted her companions’ thoughts from interpret her blushing from her being lovestruck, and Serena was able to relax a little as she turned towards the two, Erik nodding towards Eleven still rubbing his shoulder.

Serena nervously stammered out a “Y—yes, okay!” at forgetting her duty, fumbling as she called upon her magic to send a pulse of healing at the Luminary. Eleven stood a little straighter, stretching his shield arm a couple times before giving her an appreciative thumbs up. Serena nodded in return, more abruptly than she intended when she noticed Erik’s smile, and she pointedly turned away to hide her ballooning embarrassment.

Sylvando and Rab approached them from the far side of the clearing, the old king dusting feathers off the surface of the Silver Orb without fanfare while Sylvando looked around the clearing with a nervous revulsion. “Ooogh, I think I’ve had enough of birdies trying to claw my eyes out for the rest of my life. Can we please get to the Zooming out of here?”

There was an exchange of nods between the party, and everyone gathered behind Eleven as he prepared to whisk them away from the Eyrie. Jade briefly scanned the clearing as she approached. “Hmmm…I wonder if any of the birds here would be jealous if they knew we had the ability to fly around as well?” she pondered.

“With as fast as we get around? I certainly would,” said Veronica.

“I don’t really think this is the same thing,” Erik responded, standng right behind the Luminary as he raised a hand. Serena inched as close to Erik as she dared, right before she felt the gentle lift of the initial rise as the wispy light engulfed them, then launched them into the sky as they Zoomed away from the Eyrie.

* * *

“Hey! The honorary student and his friends are back!”

The half dozen students standing in a line at the center of L'Académie’s lowered yard turned away from Candida’s dancing devil impression at the shout, and they all immediately broke from their game of guess the monster to rush up the stairs to meet the party.

Three of the younger students came to a halt in front of Eleven, all of them Erik didn’t recognize or remember from the day before. “Hey! Honorary student! Tell us about your trip to the Eyrie!” asked one eagerly.

“Yeah, mister, tell us! Did you guys find any mini medals?” asked another.

“C’mon girls, he has a name!” said the other. “El, was the elysium bird really as scary as everyone says?”

They were already calling Eleven by his nickname now? Erik wondered if these girls not hanging out with boys their age really made them rabid as they were now, or if it had something to do with the tales he had apparently been telling them. Despite how blatantly tight-lipped he tended to be most of the time, El was an uncannily good speaker—he was always able to say the most with the least amount of words whenever he needed to, not the mention the few yarns he had spun for him or the party were kinda funny, partly because of how many shenanigans he had apparently pulled when he was younger. Erik would get the story of how the heck he changed so much from then out of him someday.

And speaking of trouble—Eleven took in all the girls’ hounding silently with an amused smile, still holding onto the coiled queen’s whip Sylvando had returned to him when they had landed from their Zoom. Erik directed his gaze to the western end of L'Académie, and sure enough, there was Zazie in her crimson uniform, mingling in the sunset shadows of the oak tree with the black-pigtailed girl from yesterday morning.

Erik tapped Eleven on the shoulder. “I’ll go take care of the delivery,” he said, gesturing in Zazie’s direction. El had, of course, taken on her request without a second thought and was probably planning on finishing things himself, but Erik wanted to be the one to do that, especially since he still couldn’t figure where he could have met her before. Eleven nodded and handed the whip off to him, and Erik ignored the uneasy stares of the students before he headed down the steps.

“Oh, wait for me!” came Serena’s voice, and Erik turned to find her peeling away from Jade, who smiled as she spoke to one of those younger Médamoi-something girls wearing a hat. Serena had a smile of her own, probably from the excitement still left over from the ploy she had pulled against the elysium bird not too long ago.

“Already sick of the snootiness?” Erik asked nonchalantly.

“Not particularly,” Serena replied, her look slightly bashful. “Being over there brings me closer to the delectable smells coming from the refectory.”

A weird reason, since Erik could smell the aroma of boiled seafood just fine this far away from the building, but he appreciated the company anyway. “Alright,” he said with a chuckle.

They made their way across the schoolyard, passing by Candida and her inquisitive expression at the whip in Erik’s hands as they passed through its center. Erik could clearly make out Livvie from yesterday morning, energetically bobbing back and forth as she watched them approach.

“Here you go,” Erik said, holding out the queen’s whip to Zazie when they had reached her.

Zazie produced a short cackle as she took it in her hands. “Oh yes…look at this little beauty!”

“Wow! It looks exactly like Madame Waloppe’s!” Livvie exclaimed. She looked up at Erik. “Did you guys get chased away by any monsters when you made this?”

Erik looked down at her, nonplussed. “Uh, we fight a lot of monsters when we travel around, so they tend to get chased away by us after a while.”

“And it’s wicked that they do, ‘cause there’s no way Waloppe’s going to complain about this corker!" Zazie said. "I bet we could just tell her we tossed out her old ratty one and hand her this and she’ll give us a reward!”

Livvie let out a delighted breath. “Should I go and give it to her right now?”

Zazie beamed down at Livvie as if she was her mother. “Most certainly not, Liv! You’re gonna be a good girl and run this up to my room, alright?”

“Okay!” Livvie replied, oblivious to the edge of criticism in her leader’s voice. Zazie handed the queen’s whip down to her, and the girl took a few steps towards the refectory door before pausing. She held the pointed cracker of the whip up to her nose and sniffed. “Why does it smell like bird?” she asked.

“It what?!” Zazie barked, turning to Erik with a scowl. “You got your grubby boy mitts all over that to get rid of the elysium bird, didn’t you!?”

Erik suppressed his sudden rise of resentment, keeping his look unfazed.“Not me,” he said, glancing over his shoulder at his companions still on the far side of the grounds. “Sylvando there thought it would be a good idea to break it in, in case your teacher would notice the difference.”

“Ah…smart, very smart,” Zazie said, following his glance. “That’s your weirdo jester friend, right? Mindy couldn’t stop screaming about everything she learned about her favorite MMA fighter from him all last night, but he can’t fool me—that’s gotta be the Sterling Sylva.” She placed her hands on her hip. “That guy’s got enough girl in him to blend right in here.”

“To tell the truth, I don’t think whether something is typically associated with boys or girls is very important to Sylvando,” Serena chimed in.

“Huh. He’s one of those free spirits, isn't he? Guess that works out, then,” Zazie mused, a hint of recognition flashing in her eyes. “Anyway, thanks for taking care of this for me. That’ll be sure to get me off the hook with Waloppe, whatever happens.” Her gaze suddenly sharpened as she looked past Erik and Serena. “Liv! What are you doing, still standing there? Give the nice people some thanks and get goin’!” she said, making a shooing gesture.

“Sorry!” Livvie said, shamefaced. “Thanks for helping us get out of trouble!”

Serena chuckled and lowered herself to Livvie’s height. “You’re very welcome.”

Livvie nodded, cradling the whip against her with both hands as she scampered away. Zazie watched her go with a weary amusement. “Ahhhh, Liv—she’s bouncy, that one—even more than Goolia, and she’s a blue-bodied slime, for crying out loud.” She shrugged. “Ah well. I’ve gotta go get to scramblin’ on this school junk, so I’ll catch you cats later…”

“Uh, aren’t you forgetting something?” Erik asked pointedly, holding a hand out towards her.

Zazie’s eyes wavered between his and his open hand a couple times until realization dawned within them. “Oh right! Your reward.” She pulled out a small pouch and placed it in his hand. “Took a while to scrape this together, but it should be a fair trade for how much you guys had to sweat for this…”

Erik tensed a little when he heard a low jingle as he opened the pouch and looked inside—but instead of gold coins, a mere three mini medals rested within. He groaned with disappointment. “Just a few mini medals?”

Zazie glared at him. “Hey, you greedy git—what do you think I am, some kind of lady who can pull a fancy-shmancy reward out of her arse!? Those stupid medals are the lifeblood of this school, and giving you those is practically the same as me helping a mate get ahead on a test, so get off your high horse!”

_Wait, “mate?”_ Erik’s rebuttal was stilfed as one of Zazie’s words stood out in his mind, and all his vague thoughts about how familiar she seemed suddenly clicked in place. Derk had used it with every other sentence, but if there was one place in the world where you couldn’t go 30 seconds without hearing someone use that word, it was—

“Wait a second—are you from…downtown Heliodor?” Erik asked incredulously.

A toothy grin stretched across Zazie’s face, and she fell into her assertive crouch with a satisfied chuckle. “So you finally figured it out, eh, Spiky? Blimey—an’ ‘ere I was, finkin’ you travelin’ around wiv ‘spectable company made ya all but forget yer fellow ‘eliodorian chaps!”

“Oh, my,” Serena breathed, the bewilderment in her voice matching Erik’s. “That’s quite the change in speaking from the other girls here! Can you switch between those dialects at will?”

“Eh, it’s a slip of the tongue most of the time,” Zazie replied with a dismissive wave. “All the teachers here give me crap for it, but I ain’t gettin’ rid of it anytime soon.”

Erik shook his head, feeling silly at how slow he was to realize it. “Man…I knew I’d heard half the things you’ve been saying somewhere before, but I couldn’t put two and two together until just now.” Considering everything he had seen from her, from the sly looks and how rough she was, Zazie would be right at home in the patchwork that was downtown Heliodor. “How the heck did you move up from there to a highbrow place like this?” he said, gesturing around at the Académie’s grounds.

Zazie chuckled again, this one mischievous and slightly wistful. “Let’s just say getting shipped here was some noble folks’ last straw at getting their daughter who can’t deal with her society’s crummy rules and had to find fun in other places whipped into shape. I’ll admit, this place hasn’t done that bad of a job, since I’ve made it to my fifth year.”

Scattered memories of dealing with snootiness of Heliodor’s upper crust rose to the surface of Erik’s mind. At best, someone who hailed from downtown could expect a lukewarm nonchalance from most of the people in the high houses. He could only imagine how irksome it would be for noble parents to have a kid that spent so much time down in the gutters. “So you couldn’t stand filthy rich people enough for you to spend most of your time around actual filth, and your folks had enough of that and decided to send you here?” Despite his still-lingering bitterness, a smile grew on Erik’s face at the contradiction. “I can’t say I blame them—but then again, I don’t think I can blame you, either.”

“Heh, if there’s one thing everyone learns from dealing with me, is that you got no chance at keepin’ the Z down,” Zazie asserted. Her eyes drifted somewhere behind him, and her amusement morphed into a frown. “Too bad nobody seems to take a hint about what that means…”

Erik looked over his shoulder and found some of the students from before trailing behind Jade and Sylvando as they headed through the refectory door, but the girl with the hat had stopped alongside another with the same hat and glasses. Both were staring straight at Zazie with thinly veiled disgust.

“Hey! What are you two buggers looking at?!” Zazie hollered.

“Only at the red rabble as she confers with one of her kindred spirits!” sneered the girl with glasses.

“Indeed, mister—why don’t you bring the red rabble along with you when you all depart again? It would be doing us all a favor!” scoffed the other, before both of them broke out into chortles.

“What in blazes are you two doing?” The two girls started at a reprimanding voice from inside, and Candida suddenly appeared in the doorway with hands on her hips. “You should know better—you’re already in hot water for your lips, Caroline, but stirring up trouble is something that should be far below the station of the Médamoiselles! Get in here, both of you!”

“Yes, Candida,” the two younger girls echoed, glumly walking past the chef de classe inside. Candida followed them with her glare as they passed by, but she snapped back to Zazie right afterwards. The reprimanding in her expression sharpened with her narrowing eyes, before she turned back into the Académie and shut the door behind her.

“Hmmm,” Serena hummed, the perplexion in her expression telling Erik she was reconsidering how she felt about the so-called “graceful” group of girls. She turned back towards Zazie and asked, “What does ‘red rabble’ mean? Does it have something to do with your uniform?”

Zazie’s expression soured. “Yeah. It’s the name everyone gives to the biggest troublemaker in the entire Académie, officially marked by this here color. The uniform’s been around for a long time, but the name popped up once I started getting in trouble on the regular.” Her lip curled into a scowl. “Those stinkin’ Médamoiselles…one of the heads who graduated a couple years back gave me the name, and now that spread through the rest of the school like cooties. Some of the average girls use it when they’re gossiping, but at least they know only to do it behind my back.”

“‘On the regular?’” Erik echoed. “How long have they had you wear that for?”

“How long? Hmmm…” One of Zazie’s hands drifted up to her cheek. “About three years, now? Give or take a few weeks where some other girls stepped out of line too much. I remember getting first saddled with this when I first hid that lizard in a couple of charmless seniors’ dorms for messing around with Lynette, but there was a lot of tit for tat that year, so who knows.”

“Yeesh,” Erik said, feeling the same twinge of disgust he had at a similar trick El had pulled back at his hometown. “Well if you don’t like it so much, why don’t you tighten up your act so you can look like everyone else?”

Zazie shot him an annoyed look. “You kidding? You think I actually _like_ being the odd one out? Joke’s on you—I actually don’t mind, but what I don’t like is getting pegged for causing trouble when other girls are just as bad but get by on stupid privileges! Plus, this color’s nice. Matches these brilliant rubies lodged up in my eyes, if I do say so myself.”

There was another loud creak as the refectory door opened again, and Erik turned to find Veronica coming to a halt just outside. “Serena!” she exclaimed eagerly. “Dinner’s almost ready! They’re serving some kind of fish stew from Puerto Valor, and we aren’t waiting long for anything else they serve here! Come on!”

Serena clasped her hands with a delighted breath, and she whirled towards Erik with a twinkle in her eye. “Come on, Erik, let’s go get some dinner!” 

Erik smiled at her sudden burst of enthusiasm. “Go on ahead. I’ll catch up with you guys in a minute.”

Serena’s eyes lost a tiny bit of their luster at his words, but she nodded and scurried away towards her sister. Erik watched as she fell into step beside Veronica as her sister ran down what else was on tonight’s menu, their hungry voices disappearing as Serena closed the door behind them.

“Oh, so you got something to say just to me, Spiky?” asked Zazie, her voice suddenly interested.

“Yeah, I do,” Erik said, crossing his arms. By now, most of the lingering bitterness had gone away at learning who she really was, but he could still feel traces of it. Even without how slyly she acted towards him initially, he figured that he still would have harbored that ill will, and it was unnerving. “Sorry for being so difficult with you earlier today. Those sly looks were pretty annoying, but it wasn’t as bad as anything most of the other girls have been giving me. If I knew you were from Heliodor, maybe I wouldn’t have been such a jerk, but I don’t know—thinking about that place been kind of icky lately.”

Zazie flapped a hand dismissively. “Ah, don’t sweat it. If there’s anything us street rats know, it’s taking flak from folk who don’t know any better, yeah?”

“Definitely,” Erik agreed with a chuckle, and Zazie shared the humor with a laugh of her own. Her similarities to Veronica still left him with plenty of mixed feelings, but things were definitely a ways from unpleasant now. Despite that, Erik didn’t have much else to say to her, so he decided to leave things at that. “Well, I guess I’ll see you around,” he said, turning and starting towards the refectory. Though he couldn’t summon up nearly as much enthusiasm, Serena’s feeding frenzy was pretty justified—the all-Erdrean hot dogs they had last night made him hungry for more of what this place had to offer.

He had taken only a few steps before Zazie called out to him. “Hey! Spiky!”

Erik turned to face her once more, and instead of the vivid emotions that she had displayed now and in the morning, he was surprised to find Zazie smiling at him with an amused satisfaction.

“Dunno how in the world you managed it,” she began, idly scratching her cheek with a finger, “but you must’ve done a pretty bloody good job, wooing a doll like her. Gotta admit, you two actually look kinda cute together.”

Erik stared at Zazie for a few moments as if she had spoken gibberish. “Uh…what?”

The smile on Zazie’s face hardened as she raised an eyebrow. “Serena. She’s your girlfriend, right?”

Erik’s pulse wavered, his reaction to Zazie’s assumption and his own confusion leaving him at a loss for words. “Rena?” he finally said after a while, his voice slightly unsteady. “We aren’t…she’s not my girlfriend.”

Zazie’s frown deepened. “You sure about that?”

Any thoughts that even remotely resembled her notion had never occurred to Erik before. “Yeah.”

Disbelief flashed in Zazie’s expression for a moment, then turned inscrutable as she inspected her finger. “Huh. Alright then.” The resignation in her voice hinted that she was done with the conversation. 

Erik stared at her again for a few more seconds, a prickling nervousness beginning to spread down his spine. He scratched at his neck as he continued towards the door of the refectory.


	15. Starry Sniflheim Reminiscence

_ Erik tilted his head back as he took another sip from his mug, a dry sweetness suffusing his taste buds as the mead sloshed in his mouth, then a tad bit of dizziness as it slid down his throat. It was one of the few sorts of sweetness he would experience under his keepers, ‘till whenever the Viking clan decided to go out for their next raid. Even then, it wasn’t that special—Erik had enjoyed finally getting a full serving of Sniflheim’s signature drink the first few times once Chief Eldar finally let him take part in the fighting on their raids, but now the sweetness of the honeyed alcohol was beginning to lose its luster._

_Wasn’t much for him to do but make the most of it, though. He could go back inside Sniflheim’s pub, where the rest of the berserkers where rowdily making merry, drinking the barkeep’s stock to the last drop, but not much of the merriment would rub off on him. Not with how long it had taken Erik to convince his keepers to let him do more than just toiling with grunt work at the hideout or as a deckman at sea. Not with all the sweat, the tears, the blood it had taken him just to get the rest of the clan to treat him and his sister with even a tiny bit of respect._

_He sat upon one of the stools old man Felix used for his now-closed stall standing between Sniflheim’s pub and inn, positioned right at the edge of the cobblestones. It was him directly ignoring the only baked goods salesman in town’s preference, but Erik had his reasons. Partly to avoid deepening the nighttime chill that bordered on freezing even in the summer, partly to better hear the clamor of his keepers emitting behind the door to the pub—but most of all, to get a better view of what was happening in the city’s central plaza._

_Even from this far away, Erik could hear traces of the kids’ voices as they played despite the setting of the sun, and standing out from the muted blues and pinks of traditional Sniflheimer furs scattered around the plaza were traces of bright red and cyan—Mia, his kid sister, directing the round of mother may I at the head of the fountain. She always hated when he called her that, since she was only a few years behind his fourteen, but with how much he still had to do to take care of her, it was pretty fitting._

_Still, she had a much better time than him at actually being a kid, occasionally managing to hang around others their age whenever she and Erik were in town, Viking supervision or no. They couldn’t help being the odd ones out, but at least Mia had her free-speaking mouth to make it seem like she could be one of them._

_Not him, though. Even though there was practically no chance of Erik trying to get fully into his keepers’ good graces so that he could lessen the crap slung his way every day, he still couldn’t bring himself to try getting cozy with the other Sniflheimer kids. With how full his plate was slaving away one half of each day and making sure him and Mia could survive on their own in the other, it didn’t leave him much of a fancy for taking part in whatever goofiness kids around here liked to do. Erik definitely understood the appeal of moving around with a lot of energy, but apparently around his age was the point where Sniflheimer kids started losing out on time for fun and had to throw themselves towards a bunch of highbrow scholarly stuff; and he was hard-pressed to try wrapping his head around anything that wasn’t helping him and his sister get by._

_Or, mostly everything. In the dimness of night, the verdant light radiating atop the plaza’s centerpiece was bright like the daytime sun—the Æsteinn, a glowing green ball surrounded by a cluster of slowly spinning circular rings. According to what Erik had gathered from the scattered words of Sniflheim’s eggheads, it was a kind of armillary sphere—something made to represent the world as it stood in some mysterious endless expanse, apparently—and the rings swiveling around the enchanted material represented some sort of “heavenly bodies,” two of them being the sun and the moon. He had absolutely no clue what any of that meant, and he was pretty sure it would never matter if he did, but it was always nice to stare at whenever he had downtime in Sniflheim._

_Mia could never seem to believe it whenever she asked him why he liked the thing so much, but Erik figured she couldn’t deny she liked it a little as well. At some point she thought it would be a bright idea to somehow steal the entire display and sell it to make a ton of money. It took a lot of explaining to get her to understand how stupid it was—mostly because of the fact that the only people they could feasibly sell it to would be rich local Sniflheimers, and they’d probably just hand them off to King Long Beard’s guards before they could even get to the bartering._

_He wouldn’t mind stealing it for them to keep, though. It’d certainly be a nice addition to their little shelter—he’d probably keep himself busy sometimes trying to figure out how the thing worked, and maybe it’d satisfy his sister’s penchant for shiny things. _

_Energetic cheers erupted from the end of the plaza closer to Erik. He glanced up from his reverie to see Mia running at top speed next to a Sniflheimer boy at its outer edge, following the gate’s hexagonal shape, and he felt a small smile grow on his face. Good on her for managing to get some fun out of tonight.It made him want to try and get some enjoyment for himself a little, but he knew he probably wouldn’t take as well to things. He’d probably outmatch most of the kids at whatever they were doing—and plus, at some point, everything he’d endured under the Vikings made it hard to try childishly enjoying himself when there was always some specter of hardship always lingering on the horizon. Erik wasn’t sure if he would ever get that part of himself back, if at all._

_No, for better or worse, a good portion of his life was probably going to be him stuck slaving away under his keepers. He’d have probably scrounged together some money for him and his sister to get a ticket out of Sniflheim a long time ago, but the paltry allowance the chief left them from the spoils of their raids was barely enough for them to scrape by on their own. Not to mention, a part of Erik was absolutely terrified of stowing away on a ship—it was hard to believe sometimes with how backwards it seemed, but the chief and the other Vikings considered him and his sister part of their own, and it was crystal clear they would raise high hell on anything or anyone that snatched away something of theirs. One of Erik’s earliest memories of being brought into town were the fearful gazes and occasional finger pointing as he passed by with his keepers, catching whispers of how much Sniflheim’s trading economy was disrupted with how many merchant ships were caught in the chaos wrought getting revenge on some foreign ambassadors. After a spat with some Heliodorian soldiers got out of hand, Østen ended up taken away in chains, and while no Sniflheimer ships were damaged when the chief went to get him back, Erik knew his tribute to the royal family was probably much bigger than usual that month._

_Every time he considered that, it always seemed like maybe it would be better, and less painful, if he just accepted it and tried to better belong with his keepers. Not like he hadn’t been trying at all—it had taken him a lot of effort, but he’d finally learned how to be sharp enough with a dagger to take part in raids, even with the jeers from Haukur and the other berserkers. He could barely lift the cumbersome axes that were the Viking weapon of choice, much less the crude swords they had that weren’t giant two-handers preferred by Ragnar and a couple others, but a dagger felt just right in his hands. He could move in, strike a few times, and be out while still being just as deadly as everyone else—far removed from the frenzied brutality of his keepers, but they definitely didn’t take well to the difference. To them, a knife was nothing more than a pocket toy for wily criminals instead of “honorable” warriors, and he always got flak for his preference, another reason he couldn’t just fall in line._

_Plus, all the fighting and pillaging and pleasure-seeking, the things the Vikings held in the highest regard, just never felt that important to him. He’d witnessed it all his life, and he’d hoped he’d finally be able to get some peace of mind from finally taking part in what the clan did best…and even then, all it could leave Erik with was a sour disappointment._

_More cheers drifted towards Erik from the central plaza, and he had to narrow his eyes to see the gaggle of Sniflheimer kids having moved to the other side of the Æsteinn fountain. He couldn’t see Mia, but hopefully she could be taking part in those cheers as well. That was always nice to see. He didn’t really know how or why to explain it, but as long as she was happy, he was happy. And that was always enough for him._

__Well, at least most of the time._ Erik chuckled softly at the thought. He closed his eyes as he took a longer sip of his mead, which seemed to taste slightly sweeter this time around._

_With the racket of the Sniflheimers quieting down, traces of the sound of his sister’s upraised voice suddenly echoed in his mind. The yell of another girl followed in response, and when Erik opened his eyes, he saw the crowd of kids gathered around the front of the plaza—but his sister wasn’t among them._

_“…oodbye, you jerk!” Mia yelled, looking straight ahead as she stomped down the plaza steps towards him, arms held tight against her chest. As she got closer, Erik could see her cheeks as red as the ribbon tied around her long braid, the frown marring her face reflexively causing an _oh no_ to echo in his thoughts._

_The heat of Mia’s anger must have been pretty high—the light layer of snow covering Sniflheim’s packed earth still tended to be pretty cold at night even during summer, yet she sat right down in it a couple steps next to him with an irritated puff. “Ugh, those stupid Sniflheimers and their stupid rules, forcing people into playing stupid games without giving them a chance to get out of it!” she grouched._

_Erik raised an eyebrow. “I thought you always liked how they switched things up all the time?” he asked._

_Mia scoffed. “Yeah, when they aren’t forcing you to play games that you barely have a shot of winning.”_

_“What the heck even happened?” he asked, concerned._

_“Nothing,” Mia abruptly replied, crossing her legs and cupping her slouched head._

_Erik released a weary sigh, wondering what else those other kids must’ve done to get her so irritated. He turned his gaze back towards the group of Sniflheimers still gathered at the front of the Æsteinn. They were crowding around the boy who Mia had been racing just a minute ago; and if Erik squinted closely, he thought he could see them looking down at a pile of something in one of his open gloves…_

_When Erik recognized what the Sniflheimer was holding, he suspiciously turned back towards his sister. The color had disappeared from Mia’s face, but her mouth was still fixed into a scowl, and a petulant anger smoldered in her eyes. There was only one thing that could happen to her that got her this worked up, and knowing that, he could only frown at her. “Betting your allowance on silly games? Really, Mia?”_

_The flash of surprise on his sister’s face was all the confirmation Erik needed as she glanced towards him, but her scowl turned indignant as she turned away a moment later, still keeping quiet._

_“Come on—how many times do I have to tell you, we need to hold on to that money!” Erik groaned. “Do you want us to spend the next week with empty stomachs?”_

_“Ugh, of course not!” Mia snapped back. “I wanted to spend it with full ones—that’s why I was getting those kids to put up their money, so I could get us more!” She jabbed a finger towards the plaza. “And if you don’t want us to starve, you should go up there and win it all back for us!” _

_“Like you’ve actually wanted to put your money towards something useful instead of just hoarding it all day. I’m not going up there to fix your mess, and it’s dumb for you to have even tried betting money on those games in the first place! You’re going to get everyone around here to like us even less than when you just going around and straight up begging!”_

_“It was already dumb, since that dumb Kalla girl wouldn’t have gotten everyone to push me into that race if I hadn’t beaten her and everyone else at everything already! Her and Árni and everyone else—they’re all a bunch of weaselly jerks!”_

_“And was all the name-calling really needed? You’re gonna get all the kids to not want to have you in their games anymore, and I’m not gonna be sorry when you come crying back to me next time we drop by. You need to go back over there and apologize.”_

_Mia crossed her arms and looked away again. “I don’t care! Not like it even matters, since Chief never brings the entire clan around much, and you’re too much of a jerk to let me come with whenever you do sneak here on your own.”_

_His sister’s petulance had reached its peak, and Erik discarded his rebuttal about how he didn’t take her into town that often because of how much of a handful she was, simply scoffing in it’s place. It was always like this whenever he got on Mia about her terrible moneymaking schemes. He’d point out what she was doing was wrong, she’d try to reason that whatever she was doing was actually a good thing, and then they’d spend the next few minutes to couple days arguing over who was right. It was always him, of course—but getting Mia to see otherwise was like trying to reason with an ursa major half the time. Better to let things cool off from a sour note then have one of their fleeting spare moments be muddled by bickering._

_Erik let his anger simmer down for a minute, then took another drink of his mead. He expected it to taste just as sour as his spat with Mia now that his mood was ruined, but it was just as sweet as normal. There were maybe two or three good sips of the stuff left over. He wished it could have been five or six, now._

_“Hey, is that from the pub?” Mia asked, an edge still lingering in her voice. “Let me have some.”_

_“What? No,” Erik said, taken aback by her even asking. “You’re too young to be drinking any of this stuff.”_

_“Yeah, like you’re old enough to be saying so,” Mia scoffed. “A couple of the other kids think I’m some kind of mini Viking that’s gonna go crazy on them because I’m related to you, sitting here and getting drunk like the rest of them! Shouldn’t you be all tipsy because you’ve had a lot of that stuff, anyway?”_

_“I only have one mug every few days, and I’ve already had enough in general to not get drunk after that much. But I’ve had to deal with too many stomach problems getting that far, and you’re only gonna be worse off since you’re so small, so you’re not getting anything strong until you’re older.”_

_“Can’t I just get a little sip?” Mia prodded, sidling towards him and reaching for his mug._

_“No,” Erik emphatically said, switching his drink to his other hand._

_“Come on, don’t be such a sourpuss!” Mia stood up and reached around him to get at it, but Erik pushed her away with his free hand. Mia stubbornly huffed at him before trying again, and they fell into a scuffle. She reached up and under his arms and behind his back to reach his mug, and Erik twisted in his chair and slapped away her hands and pushed her to keep her away. After a few seconds, one of her attempts got close enough to touch it, and Erik jerked his hand hard enough to tilt the entire mug, dumping the rest of his mead into the snow._

_Erik’s eyes widened as he watched the snow next to his stool change color from white to a honeyed yellow, until they snapped towards Mia at her burst of laughter. “What the heck, Mia!? Look what you did!” he blurted._

_His sister had backed away from him, hunched over. “Oh no, you’ve lost the rest of your big boy drink!” she sneered sarcastically in between bouts. “That’s what you get for not sharing with your poor sister!”_

_“I might have shared with you if I had more than a little bit left!” Erik groaned. “That’s probably the only drink I’m gonna have for the next week…”_

_“Well, if you want the rest of it so badly, maybe you should gather it up and drink it after the snow melts!” Mia said, mirthful tears forming in her eyes._

_His sister’s jeers spiked Erik’s annoyance to anger, and a retort was ready to leap from his tongue—until a vindictive idea occured to him. Suppressing a smirk, he let out his lingering disappointment with a sigh as he got down from his stool to gather the colder snowy mead mixture into his mug._

_“Oh man, don’t tell me you’re desperate enough to actually do it?” Mia taunted. Her laughter had calmed down, but she had begun to rub her closed eyes._

_“It’s the only one I’m getting for a while, so there’s not much I can do,” Erik said, faking the dejection in his voice. He scooped the last of the snow into his mug, then got back onto the stool. Erik let his head droop as he looked down into the yellow mound, but in the corner of his vision he could still see Mia wiping her eyes. He just needed to wait until he opened her mouth again, and…_

_“Heh, better hope Chief and the others aren’t gonna be do—” Mia didn’t have a chance to finish her sentence; instead of words exiting, bits of snow entered her mough as Erik launched the snowy mead from his mug right at her._

_Mia cried out as she recoiled from the snow. A mortified look found home on her face as she sputtered the slushy mixture from her mouth, and Erik could only chuckle at the sudden change in circumstances. When she had finished her episode of spitting, she looked back at him with an irritated surprise. “Erik! You weaselly jerk!” _

_“How’s that for sharing?” Erik asked, finally letting a snide smirk stretch across his face. _

_Mia’s face twisted into a exasperated sneer. “Ooogh! I’ll show you sharing!” Before Erik could react, his sister balled a pile of snow from below her with both hands and slung it at him, and Erik reeled back with a grunt as the packed snow burst on his cheek. His sister bust into laughter again, and Erik was ready to chide her again when he looked back, but faltered when he saw the mischievously mirthful grin on Mia’s face. Seeing that brought up the same feeling in him—not wanting to be outdone, Erik reached down from the stool with his foot to kick up a wave of snow at her. Mia was ready this time, but her humor-hampered dodge turned into a stumble as she tripped over the edge of the paved path and fell onto the cobblestones._

_Erik’s snort bubbled into a roaring laugh at Mia’s fall, and he closed his eyes, savoring the surprise etched on his sister’s face in the split-second of her descent. By the time he heard her furious growl he was doubled over in his chair—until his pulse skipped as he was shoved backwards, then pain blossoming on his back as he landed on the thinly-snowed ground._

_Mia’s laugh was just as loud as his, but Erik still felt patiently mischievous. Instead of immediately raising himself from the ground, Erik kept his eyes shut as he rolled onto his side away from her, letting out a groan that belied more pain than he actually felt. Mia blew a raspberry at him in response and sneered, “Serves you right!”_

_Erik let his sister’s assertion hang in the air for a moment before moaning again, this one weaker than the last._

_“Oh come on, you big baby, you fell into a bunch of snow. Suck it up.”_

_Erik didn’t respond. He didn’t need to, since he knew exactly how she would react to his silence. The sound of the Sniflheimer kids’ voices drifted towards them as he waited._

_“Erik?” Mia asked, her voice dulled from her previous sharpness._

_He kept quiet. He’d stay still for just a few more seconds, and…_

_“Erik? You okay?” A hint of worry had entered her voice, and it took nearly all of Erik’s self-control to suppress a satisfied smile. Mia’s footsteps crunched on the snow as she came closer. “Oh Goddess, did I really knock him out?” she muttered. “Shoot…if he’s out, how the heck am I gonna get tonight’s fire started? Oh no…” It got deathly cold at night in their shelter without a running fire, and she probably remembered what had happened the last time she ended up sleeping at the hideout a few months back. Erik felt her hand on his upraised side as she shook him. “Erik, wake up!”_

_He still didn’t respond. He just needed to play dead for a little bit longer, and her facade would completely crumble._

_“C’mon, big brother, get up!” Mia pleaded. “I know I’m a terrible sister when it comes to taking care of chores, but if you wake up this one time, I promise I’ll be better!”_

_Fat chance of that, but it was always gratifying when she admitted it._

_“Please?”_

_And at that, Erik knew his charade had gone on long enough. As discreetly as he could, he clenched one of his hands in the snow, careful to crunch the mound so it wouldn’t be painful, as he waited for her to shake him one last time._

_“Come _on_, Erik, please, get u—”_

_With a shout, Erik abruptly sat himself up from the ground as he flung the snow at his sister, her surprised shriek even louder than the initial mug-flinging a minute ago. Despite her narrowed eyes and teeth clenched in frustration, Mia’s cheeks blushed red as a tomato as she staggered away from him. “_Erik!_ You dirty trickster! You were awake the entire time, weren’t you!?”_

_He wasn’t sure what he grinned more about—how flustered she looked now, or how easily that label could apply to her at times. Erik only gave her a smug chuckle._

_Mia thrust her hands down in a frustrated gesture. “Ugh! You’re horrible! I’m going back to play with the Sniflheimer kids!” she barked, quickly getting up and starting towards the plaza._

_“Oh yeah?” Erik called back. “And how friendly do you think those ‘weaselly jerks’ will be now that you’ve been such a sore loser?”_

_His sister had made it halfway across the cobblestones before his words froze her in her tracks. Stumped as she was, Mia crossed her arms as she stood there, and Erik saw the air of her frustrated puff. Typical of her, whenever she knew she had completely screwed up and didn’t want to admit it—but despite how satisfying this particular situation was, Erik could only feel a warm pulse of concern for his sister now._

_Chuckling again, Erik stood up and wiped the snow off himself before approaching her. He stopped right beside her and lay a hand on her shoulder. Mia didn’t immediately move away like he expected, but when he looked down at her petulant frown she pointedly looked away to hide her still-pink cheeks. Seeing as she would need a bit of prodding, he gently pushed her towards the stairs. “Hey, c’mon. I know our sorries aren’t worth anything to the clan, but they probably are to these kids, and they’ll remember how much of a jerk you were next time you come back trying to hang out with them. You should really go and apologize.”_

_Frustration still smoldered in Mia’s sidelong eyes, but Erik’s words caused them to dim. She closed them concedingly for a moment as her expression softened, until they sharpened into a resigned pout when they opened once more. She sighed again, said, “Okay, fine, I get it,” before stomping off towards the steps, and Erik followed behind her._

_By then, the Sniflheimer kids had moved away from racing back to their game of mother may I from before. Árni, the boy who had outsped Mia—and flush with his newfound pouch of gold—had become the man of the hour and was now approving directions to tiptoe or skip or crabid walk every which way around the center of the plaza in an attempt to reach him—though compared to when Mia was playing, two kids were within close reach of him standing at the front of the Æsteinn fountain, compared to none when Mia was the leader._

_Remembering her comment from before, Erik hung back a couple steps from the intricate iron grate lining the edge of the center, leaving his sister to do the deed on her own. A couple of the Sniflheimers had already fixed their gazes on him and his sister already, but it took Mia’s reluctant call to direct everyone’s attention to her. “Hey guys?”_

_She paused a moment as Árni and the rest of the kids looked at her. “Uh, sorry about being such a jerk and calling you guys names and getting you guys into playing a bunch of games for money,” she said, her gaze wavering between Árni and a pale blonde-haired girl with pigtails. To any grown-up, the way the words tumbled out of Mia made it seem like a halfhearted apology, but with how rare “sorry” was in her vocabulary, it was enough._

_The Sniflheimer kids didn’t know any better though, and expressions wavering between puzzlement and contentment passed between them. Another pale-haired girl, this one taller than the rest with hair parting over her right temple smiled at Mia before speaking up. “It’s okay! My mother says we all get angry and do bad things sometimes, but saying sorry always makes it better.”_

_“Yeah!” Árni agreed. “Since you said sorry, you can come back and play with us any time, okay?”_

_Mia seemed taken aback by the warm reception, and she faltered for a moment before speaking again. “O-oh, uh…cool! Thanks!” she stammered, awkwardly scratching behind her head._

_Fortunately, the other kids didn’t seem to notice her nervousness. Árni held up the small sack of gold in his hand. “Do you want your gold back?” he asked. “My parents don’t like it when I have a lot of money.”_

_Mia’s posture had been stiff throughout her ordeal, but she straightened up almost instantly at the Sniflheimer’s question. “You serious?” she asked, almost disbelivingly. She inched forward slightly, but paused before turning back towards Erik, her eyes narrowed and lips pursed pleadingly._

_Erik couldn’t help an exasperated sigh. He wasn’t sure if letting her get her mitts back on the gold she had basically thrown away would make her suddenly forget what she was supposed to learn from all this, but it didn’t change the fact that they needed the money. “Fine—but give the money you took from everyone else back.”_

_All of Mia’s nervousness disappeared behind her grin, and she let out a gleeful laugh before scampering towards Árni. She gestured the rest of the Sniflheimers towards her once Árni turned over the pouch of gold to her, and soon the handful of kids who had put up their own allowances were reimbursed. As she stood beside him, Erik noticed that his sister stood a few inches taller than the Sniflheimer boy, and he shook the head at the irony of his sister being slower than someone that much shorter than her before turning back towards old man Felix's food stall._

_When he made it to the plaza steps, he heard the low jingle of coins, and he looked over his shoulder to find Mia following in his tracks with a sullen expression, a far cry from her beaming satisfaction seconds ago._

_“Keeping your gold safe in case you or someone else gets any funny ideas?” Erik asked idly._

_“What? No!" she blurted out, suddenly defensive. "I’m not scared of losing to any of those kids, if that’s what you’re thinking.” _

_That was another quirk of hers—for whatever reason, whenever she seemed on the verge of being sad or just…emotional in general, she always cobbled together some way to cover it up. He dropped the subject and smirked at her instead. “You know that Árni kid’s a few inches shorter than you, right?” he asked slyly._

_Mia shot him a sour look as they returned to their place near the bar. “Shut up.”_

_“Don’t get mad at me—you need to be faster than that,” Erik said with a chuckle. He righted the stall’s stool and sat down, while his sister crouched down on the cleared earth he had kicked the snow off of a few minutes before. Mia making things right with the Sniflheimers left him a particularly good mood, and he felt like brightening the situation. “If we ever get a chance to get away from this freezing place, we’re going to need to be fast if we want to get away from the clan, y’know.”_

_“Yeah, probably,” Mia idly agreed. She puffed out a disappointed breath. “I want to know why that stupid Goddess thought it would be a good idea to leave us poor siblings slaving away under those jerks.”_

_Erik’s gaze drifted back towards the Æsteinn. It’s connection to the stars and the mystery behind the way its armillary rings endlessly revolved around its glowing center always made him wonder if there was some sort of mystical secret as to how it worked. It probably had something to do with the magical mumbo jumbo Sniflheim’s scholars liked to practice that was beyond him, but he knew that could easily apply to the Goddess as well, what with how Lief rambled about how She worked in mysterious ways._

_Though he knew there was no way it was possible from this far away, Erik thought he could see a mote of light drift away from the radiant emerald light. He followed it with his eyes as it drifted upwards, towards the hundreds of tiny bright lights dotting the sea of the night sky. “Who knows? Maybe we’re just a couple of unlucky stars who ended up in the wrong place,” he mused._

_Mia let out a weary groan. “Oh no, not this again…”_

_A smile grew on Erik’s face despite his sister’s disapproval. He’d never seen it himself, but on rare occasions you could catch stars as they shot across the sky, defying how unchanging they were supposed to be. With everything he had to endure under his keepers, it felt stupid to believe it, but…maybe someday, him and Mia could be shooting stars themselves, and leave their old life behind. He could only hope._

_Rough voices from the pub steadily grew louder in Erik’s ears, and he started at the door to Sniflheim’s pub slamming open. The rowdy racket of guffaws and cheers of the clan was suddenly grating after their absence, and Erik released a weary sigh as their keepers filed out onto the cobblestones._

_Chief among them was the voice of Chief Eldar himself—heavily built with thick brown hair covering most of the lower half of his face, with more tumbling behind him from under his signature horned helmet. “Ufff, now that’s what I like to call a clean house!” he guffawed, his voice only slightly slurred despite the half-dozen mugs Erik had seen crowded on the chief’s table before he had left. “Alright, lads! If you’re not tipsy, you’re good to do some lifting! Get those flagons loaded up, and let’s get the wind in our sails again! Someone get a head count, where’s our little brats?”_

_Most of the Vikings who had come out by the time the Chief had finished were too drunk or already busy hauling barrels of drink to respond, but a couple scanned their surroundings along with him. Eventually, the gaze of Haukur, a lean man a few years older than Erik with a scraggly beard fell on him and his sister, and Erik winced involuntarily. The newest berserker’s eyes fell upon the mug sitting in the snow below Erik, and his scowl deepened. “Trying to hide when you two are drinking snow from the ground?” he asked coldly. “Go give that back to the barkeep and get your hides back to the longboat, runts.”  
_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Mia's section of the character book](https://cavespeak.org/dqxi/book/mia/) mentions Erik was fascinated with stars when he was a kid, plus he mentions taking a liking to astrology himself in a couple party chats, so I'm taking that and running as fast as I feasibly can with it.
> 
> UPDATE 18 June 2020: [silly optional semantic question time](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50629321313_7971d76f16_b.jpg) is now (or was?) over, and I decided to just use Serenerik for simplicity's sake. Thanks to everyone who provided input, whether here or somewhere else! You should still:
> 
>   1. [look at](https://www.pixiv.net/en/tags/%E3%82%AB%E3%83%9F%E3%83%A5%E3%82%BB%E3%83%8B%E3%83%A3)/follow/give social media likes to the [Japanese Kamyusenya artists](https://twitter.com/search?q=%E3%82%AB%E3%83%9F%E3%83%A5%E3%82%BB%E3%83%8B%E3%83%A3&src=typed_query&f=image) because they [are](https://twitter.com/AthiraOthira/status/1192155239001968640) [very](https://twitter.com/ringooo65/status/1220514049135276034) [wonderful](https://twitter.com/phoebe_nemo/status/1271458727745384448), and [I actively feed off some of their energy](https://twitter.com/mochizakki/status/1271946898010632193) to write parts of this story,
>   2. look at/give gratifying favorites to [Western fans](https://fuckyeaherikxserena.tumblr.com/) who [made stuff](https://www.fanfiction.net/search/?keywords=erik+x+serena&ready=1&type=story) before this thing, and
>   3. if you are one of said Western fans who have managed to stumble across this somehow, know that _you_ are very good and wonderful.


	16. Humdrum Phnom Nonh

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> snuck an extra scene in Chapter 13 during the long gap between this chapter and the last one to make sure all of the main party had something to say about L'Académie, plus elaborate on something that'll be a pain to set up later, so make sure to go back and take a look at that (or everything from then up to now, honestly)
> 
> This chapter took a fair amount of looking into Cambodian and Southeast Asian culture and has some stuff that may or may not be very much out of my lane to have a take on as a western cishetero dude (it's really hard to find reliable information on Asian cultures on the western internet), so please let me know if I dropped the ball on anything in this one!

“E-excuse me, madam, but do you happen to be a tourist?”

Serena’s perusal of the crowded food stall before her was interrupted by the sound of a child’s question from behind. She and Erik turned away from the family occupying the stall to find a Phnom Nonh native, a young boy with brown hair and a deep blue tunic. Unlike most of the other lively Phnomnians they had encountered throughout the day, this one was obviously saddened, his hands clasped as they looked up at Serena with visible nervousness.

“Dear me…” Serena breathed, immediately finding herself touched by the boy. She took a step towards him and lowered herself to his height. “I certainly am—what seems to be the matter?” 

“Erm…do you happen to have any spare gold? I um…uh…” Lowering herself to the boy’s height only seemed to increase his reluctance; now he could barely meet Serena’s gaze as he constantly wrung his hands. “Uh…my f-father—”

“What in the world for?” Erik’s dubious voice disrupted Serena’s consolation, and she glanced up at her companion to find him frowning down at the boy with suspicion.

The boy took a step back from Erik’s scrutiny with wide eyes. “I—uh—um—”

“Erik!” Serena snapped, taken aback by his abrasiveness. She glared at him as she raised herself from the ground. “Does it really matter why this boy might need our help?”

Erik’s frown deepened into a scowl, only a few degrees removed from a bitter anger as he gestured around them at Phnom Nonh’s foremost market stalls bustling with activity. “Don’t you think it’s weird that this kid’s asking for money when it’s obvious that everyone who lives in this village is full of it right now?”

“Weird or otherwise, I know that you don’t need any sort of reason to be charitable!” Serena chided. She turned sharply back towards the boy, suppressing as much irritation as she could to gesture for him to open his hands, then emptied her small pouch of gold coins into them. She smiled despite herself and said, “Take care to spend it wisely, will you?”

The Phnomnian boy looked down at the modest pile of gold in his hands in surprise for a few moments before meeting Serena’s gaze. “I-I will, madam! Thank you!” He cradled his newfound fortune against himself before scampering away, without a trace of his prior nervousness.

As Serena watched the boy go, her satisfaction began to crumble. She couldn’t believe why Erik would react so unkindly to that poor child’s plight! He had never treated any of the children they had encountered before with anything close to outright hostility, even the inconsiderate ones they had encountered at L'Académie over the previous two days. Of course, she knew he was naturally a skeptical person because of his past circumstances—and yet, seeing him act so unsympathetically all of a sudden was almost unfathomable!

She turned back towards Erik then, ready to rebuke him once more—but Serena faltered when she saw him staring in the direction of the boy, his expression guilty as if he had heard her thoughts. When Erik’s eyes drifted back to hers, he let out a weary sigh as he scratched behind his head. “Sorry,” he said. “You didn’t see too many kids doing it back there, but more than a few shifty folks in downtown Heliodor would talk junk or cause trouble just for a chance to sneak a hand into people’s purses. But still, seeing that kid like that, I just…” He trailed off, his eyes narrowing into a wistful sadness.

Serena’s irritation could only ease as she finished his thought for him. “Did he remind you of Mia?”

Erik closed his eyes and let out a light chuckle. “Yeah.”

Serena’s memory harked back to one of their many evenings on the _Salty Stallion_, when he had told her about a night Erik had spent under the stars with his sister, convincing Mia to apologize so that she could regain an allowance lost from kids in a nearby town thanks to her own antics. She could remember his sweet expression when he told Serena that evening, sitting close to one another as they sailed under a different set of stars. “Well, if that boy truly is in such disparate circumstances compared to the rest of the town, maybe he’ll be able to make the right choices with what he’s been given,” Serena assured him.

Erik sighed again. “I hope so, Rena.” For a moment, Serena thought she could see a flicker of pain on his face, as if he was frustrated with the entire affair.

“Ah! Hello!” an energetic voice called from behind Erik. Serena looked around him at the vendor of the food stall, a stout man with a pair of spectacles balanced on his nose, smiling affably as he glanced between them. “You two were waiting after the family who was here before, I think so, yes?”

Erik stepped back from the man and gestured at Serena, and she stepped forward eagerly as her hunger resurfaced. “Hello! I’ll take some of that stew on the right, please,” she said, pointing towards a pot of an orangish mixture with meat and leaves bobbing within.

“Ahhh, the _samlar kari_ curry! A fine choice!” The vendor ladled out some of the curry into a small bowl, then cordially extended a hand towards Serena. “That will be 216 gold coins, please.”

“This should be just enough then!” Serena said cheerily, placing the small pouch of gold she had coaxed out of Eleven earlier into the man’s hand.

Some of the friendliness drained from the vendor’s expression as he looked down at his payment, then back at Serena with a slight confusion. “Madam, I believe there’s been some sort of mistake here…”

“Really?” Serena replied, tilting her head. “I’m sure I counted out at least that much from what I heard you say to another set of visitors.”

The vendor’s expression became slightly pained. “No, madam, it’s just…” He clenched the sack in his hand as he jostled it up and down.

Serena’s perplexity grew as she stared at the pouch, until she heard another of Erik’s chuckles from behind her. She turned to find him looking at her with amusement. “I think you’d probably want to think about how much money you’re giving out the next time you want to be charitable,” he said.

It took another moment for Serena to feel a jolt of awareness of her earlier misstep, and her cheeks began to warm as she apologetically turned back towards the vendor. “Oh goodness, forgive me, I didn’t realize I had given you—”

“That is alright, madam,” the man said, raising a hand. “As long as you still have enough money, you will be able to enjoy your meal…”

Unfortunately, that was all the money Serena had on her person; since Veronica was usually the one who spent money for the both of them, and she was back at the inn with Eleven. Serena clasped her hands together as she tried to keep her ballooning embarrassment from showing. “Well…erm…”

Her efforts were in vain, for the vendor sighed and pitifully shook his head. “I am sorry, madam, but if you do not have the proper payment, then I cannot provide you with any food.”

Serena released a disappointed whimper. And she was so looking forward to trying some hot street food for the first time… Maybe if she were lucky, Serena would be able to convince her sister not to eat so much for lunch so that she would want to peruse more local delicacies next time…

Another of Erik’s chuckles emitted from behind her, and Serena couldn’t help her prodding irritation as she turned towards his mirthful smile. Her meeting his gaze raised his humor enough for him to laugh again, and Serena’s embarrassment was the only thing keeping her from quipping at Erik.

When he finished, his smile softened as his expression grew warm—and Serena’s pulse skipped as she matched it to the same one Erik held when he spoke of his sister. Suddenly she found herself unable to look away from Erik as he stepped up beside her, then took out a pile of coins and extended it towards the vendor. “Hey, what can you get for this?” he asked.

The man’s look grew inquisitive as he counted the coins in Erik’s hand, and after a few seconds he gestured towards a pile of thin, skewered strips of meat resting upon a neat arrangement of glowing warmalines. “Just one piece of _satay_, I’m afraid.”

“It’s cool, I’m not hungry,” Erik said, before looking back at Serena. It took her a moment to realize he wanted to know if she wanted the skewered meat or not, and when Serena finally stammered out an approval, Erik nodded at the vendor as he deposited the gold in their hand. Despite her delight from the entire exchange, Serena stood flustered the entire time as the vendor stored away his payment then cordially handed a skewer to Erik, who then promptly relinquished it to her. Smiling the entire time, Erik thanked the vendor as he turned to go, and Serena’s legs seemed to follow him on their own.

“Ah, but wait!” The vendor’s sudden call brought their attention to him once more, and they turned to him as he rummaged around in his stall, then spooned a glob of something into a large leaf before folding it into a neat square. The man turned back to them with a cheerful look. “My apologies for you not being able to satisfy your original desires—_samlar kari_ would have suited you, I think so,” he said, glancing between them. “But certainly some Phnomnian _prahok_ to enjoy with your _satay_ will make up for your disappointment, free of charge!”

Erik accepted the wrap from the man, and as he and Serena walked away his energetic calls stood out over all the others for a time before disappearing into the commotion of the late afternoon Phnom Nonh. By then, she had recovered enough from her trance to take a bite out of her skewer—chicken sautéed well done with a bit of a leafy taste to it. Serena liked it, but even without meat particularly being her forte, she found the flavoring of the chicken to be somewhat lacking.

“What was it that the vendor gave you?” Serena asked, turning towards Erik as they walked.

Part of Serena couldn’t help but be disappointed for Erik’s bearing to have returned to normal as he curiously inspected the wrap in his hand. “Don’t know. Let’s find out,” he said, his nostrils twitching slightly. The moment he lifted up one side of the fold, Serena’s nose caught a whiff of raw fish—which immediately grew overwhelming as he lifted the other, revealing an awfully pungent blob of a brownish-white paste!

Serena recoiled away from the mixture, covering her nose with a hand. “Oh, heavens—what a horrid stench!” she cried. It was as if someone had taken the already stifling stench of spoiled cheese, combined it with that of rotten fish, and increased the pungency of both tenfold!

“Whew! That’s one heck of a smell,” Erik said, waving a hand over the paste.

“Erik…” Serena breathed, “I believe that’s a bit of an understatement.” The smell managed to worm its way into her nostrils despite her efforts, and she shivered in disgust.

“Eh, I’ve smelled worse,” Erik replied with amusement. He scrutinized the _prahok_ for a moment before idly scooping a dab of the sauce onto a finger, and Serena temporarily averted her gaze as he raised it to his mouth. “Hey, it’s actually not bad. You want to try some?”

Serena tried to be as open to new tastes as much as she could when it came to cuisine, but something told her this particular experience wouldn’t end well. “No thank you,” she said flatly.

“You sure? I’m pretty sure that guy said this was supposed to go with your skewer…”

“Yes, Erik, I’m quite sure,” Serena emphatically replied, unable to keep a hint of revulsion from entering her voice.

“Alright then,” Erik chuckled. As he stepped away to one of the nearby occupied dining tables to give the _prahok_ to another tourist, Serena anxiously let her chicken linger near her nose for a few seconds before taking a large bite, savoring the smell in an effort to purge the stench—and hypothetical taste, oh dear—from her mind.

Once Erik had returned, they began to make their way towards the main stairs of Phnom Nonh, taking a slower perusal of the town at Serena’s earlier suggestion. Nearly two hours had passed since the disappearance of the young girl Eleven had encountered shortly after they arrived, and with the complete lack of information about her from everyone in the village, the party had agreed to hold off their search until tomorrow. With nothing to do for the rest of the day, Rab, Jade, and Sylvando had headed further into the village to inspect the Nhou Wat ruins themselves, while Veronica had stayed with Eleven in the rooms they had gotten as consolation from the innkeeper’s wife.

Veronica…spicy and meaty foods were her favorite kind, especially with her newfound condition, but eating plenty of that for lunch had prompted her to tiredly shrug off taking any chances moving up and down Phnom Nonh’s steep stairs with her and Erik again. Serena couldn’t help but wonder what Veronica would have done if she were with them at the food stall—no doubt her sister would have bought something from the vendor for her if she asked enough, if only out of consolation for her absentmindedness.

But the way Erik had bought that food from the vendor for her despite her forgetfulness, smiling so wonderfully at her and offering up what he had without a second thought—Serena knew it was for the exact same reason, and she knew that Veronica’s love for her would never change despite how much of a burden she could be…yet, Erik’s actions felt so much more gratifying. He wasn’t obliged to do anything for her, but he did it so kindly anyway…it was as if Yggdrasil Herself had handpicked some of her favorite qualities of the storybook heroes she loved so much and presented to her with Erik—even if it had all been hidden behind a veil of what seemed to be the exact opposite qualities of them.

Oh, Serena felt so awful, comapring the love of her two favorite people in the world like this! And yet, she couldn’t just help being so smitten with Erik, even if he didn’t show the same towards her just yet.

They had walked alongside each other in a companionable silence as Erik idly glanced around their surroundings, but Serena broke it as they began to close in on the steps. “Erik…thank you,” she said, hoping she sounded as genuine as possible.

“Huh?” Erik said as he glanced at her. “What, for getting rid of that weird sauce? Don’t mention it.”

Serena giggled, since she was immensely grateful for that, but that wasn’t it. She shook her head. “No, not that…for buying me this skewer even if I made a silly slip-up.”

“C’mon, you gave all your money to a kid who didn’t have any,” Erik pointed out. “But, sure. It’s the least I can do.” His lips remained slightly parted, as if he wanted to say something more, but he closed them after a moment.

It wasn’t the first time he had responded to her thanks for his kindness with that since they had left Nautica, Serena noticed. The first few times, she had asked Erik _“For what?”_ and he merely responded with a shrug or an _“I don’t know.”_ But seeing him deliberate now, Serena knew the answer, and it warmed her heart.

And, it seemed as if other people could tell what the answer was as well—the food vendor had said the dish Serena had wanted originally was fitting for them! Maybe it was worth checking to see if he knew the answer himself, though. “What do you think the vendor might have meant when he said that curry was…fitting for us?” Serena asked.

“Who knows?” Erik replied with a shrug. He took on a humored smile. “Maybe he saw us with El earlier, and he tried to get his hands on that stuff before he met us at the mural or something.”

Despite herself, Serena giggled. Another romantic nudge missed, another pang of disappointment…but certainly not as disheartening as before.

* * *

For the next few minutes, Erik followed along with Serena as she fell back to her usual self when the party came across a new place: following whatever fancy that caught her attention—though it was toned down a little this time, since they had already crossed through Phnom Nonh before to check out the ruins. Erik didn’t mind, though. He’d already had enough of people losing it over some bogus mural to tag along with Rab and Jade and Sylv, and once Veronica had grouchily brushed off her sister’s requests for her to go with her to get some street food after stuffing her face at lunch, Erik didn’t need much convincing to go with Serena. Heck, if he had stayed, he probably would have gotten on Veronica himself for being such a jerk to her.

The efforts of the little Phnomnian girl who had called for them to check out the item shop the first time they’d passed through finally convinced them on the third time around, even if Eleven had been there himself a few hours ago, and they took their own look at what was on sale. Serena pointed out the same necklace El had forged for her a couple days ago to keep her magic from being Fizzled away, and the lady running the shop wasn’t nearly as noisy as her kid or as disappointed as the market stall vendors when Erik clarified they weren’t there to buy anything, which he appreciated.

Once they were done with that, Serena took notice of the lanterns strung along lines stretching across the town, again. She liked how they managed to stay bright in the day and wanted to see how they were when it got dark, and Erik could agree with her—even if more than a few of them looked like they had seen better days. On the other hand, he found himself disagreeing with her thinking that the lanterns back at Lonalulu were better simply because they had multiple colors, funnily enough.

It had only been a little more than two weeks since they first arrived at Lonalulu, but to Erik it almost felt as if it’d been much longer. Other than getting their hands on a couple more orbs putting them a few steps closer to reaching Yggdrasil, nothing too crazy had happened since then—yet he almost felt like a different person, like he had gotten back a little piece of himself he had lost somehow. All just from having Serena to talk about his troubles with…even if he couldn’t go back and fix them, or even if she didn’t necessarily have the full picture.

Even still, there were some things Erik wasn’t ready to face just yet…and he wasn’t sure if he would ever be. Might just be for the better, though. Serena had heard enough turbulent stuff from him to last a lifetime, and if she knew what he had done, or why…she’d probably stay far away from him. Traveling alongside everyone else in the party was cool, but he’d grown used to having Serena alongside him, and Erik ended up liking it a lot more than he expected—enough that he wasn’t sure how he’d feel if it suddenly stopped.

Maybe he would be able to let some parts of the past stay buried—especially if what he had now was better, as strange as it was to think about it.

By the time Erik had gotten far into his thoughts, they had made their way up the next set of steps, keeping their distance as they looked at the wares of a oddly-placed stall blocking the way to the northern part of town. Mostly a bunch of vases and other knick-knacks the party wouldn't have any use for, so Erik let his thoughts wander until Serena’s call from beside him drew his attention.

“Oh, Jade! Down here!” she called, cheerily waving up the next flight of stairs. Erik followed in that direction to find Jade coming down to meet them. Her expression seemed to be as contemplative as usual on his first glance, but he was surprised when it gave way to an irritable frown as the warrior princess got closer.

“What happened to taking a look at the ruins?” Erik asked.

Jade’s look lost some of its edge at his question. “The mural chamber is closed for some reason, and a few tourists over there started stirring up a commotion over it, so I’m sure you all know how silly that gets. Rab said he wanted to make another comparison of these ruins to others he had gotten records of after the last time we were here; but since that’s mostly his expertise, I decided to see if there’s anything interesting for sale in this town.” She placed a hand on her hip, glancing back in the direction of the ruins. “Though, since Sylvando’s feeling chatty, I have a feeling he’s not going to get much done…”

“Oh boy,” Erik muttered in agreement. Sylv was high-spirited most of the time, but on those rare occasions whenever he managed to get Rab going along with him…peace and quiet suddenly became a scarcity. Which wasn’t terrible at this point, but still pretty annoying.

Serena chuckled at his reaction before asking Jade, “Have you found anything you’ve particularly liked yet?”

“Ugh, no,” Jade pointedly said, her look souring as she glanced around. “Honestly, you’d think with all the natives around here trying to get you to look at what they’re selling that at least one of them would want to highlight any local fashion over selling a bunch of cheaply-made trinkets.”

“Oh, you didn’t see that dress I had told you was on display in the armor shop? I was so sure you would like that one…”

“The strongsam?” Jade gave a frustrated shake of her head. “It certainly looks easy to move around in, and it matches the austere martial artist look perfectly, but that’s not very different from what I always wear—and plus, there’s simply no flair to it! There’s no patterns embroidered on it like dresses made traditionally in that fashion, it doesn’t accentuate your lower body, it doesn’t show off any skin, the colors are—”

“Wait, wait, wait, what?” Erik interrupted, shocked. It was amusing seeing Jade get this spirited over something so ordinary, but he was pretty sure the last thing she’d pointed out wasn’t a slip of her tongue. “Did you say ‘not show off any skin?’” he asked.

Jade fixed her eyes on him, her expression hardening as she raised an eyebrow. “Yes, I did. What about it?”

“Uh…” Erik faltered, not expecting her to be so forward about what that might imply—and especially around Serena. “I mean, how you act with Rab and other people fawning over you, and with, uh…what you end up doing in fights sometimes, I’d always thought that…” He nervously trailed off, unsure of how to nicely tell her how weirdly backwards it seemed.

“What, you think I’m sending mixed messages about how I feel about my assets?” Jade questioned, conspicuously placing a hand on her breast.

“Well…yeah,” Erik admitted.

Jade eyed him dumbly for a moment, then sighed like she was speaking to a child. “Let me tell you something, Erik. I like my body. It’s mine to do whatever I please with it, whether it be dressing it up in different kinds of fashions to show off when I get the chance or using it to fool people or monsters who might think otherwise—and I’m perfectly fine with using the proper outfits to reach that end.” Jade continued a few steps past Erik to look at the stall he and Serena were browsing a minute ago. “I used to think it was more trouble than it was worth with how rabid men can get about it, especially Rab—but, as silly as he and everyone else can get about it at times, I think he’s always been trying to tell me something about my allure…” 

She turned around and shrugged, as if the subject was completely inconsequential. “If you’ve got it, flaunt it.”

Erik silently stared at Jade as her words sunk in. She’d unraveled one of the mysteries surrounding herself, but the way she had been so straight-faced about something that most people thought was scandalous enough for it to be kept under wraps in the vast majority of situations left him completely unsure of how to respond.

“Erm…” Serena’s curious voice drew both their attentions to her, staring at Jade with her head tilted. “Are you talking about your physical charms, Jade?” she asked absently.

Erik shared a glance with Jade, the glint of humor in her eyes matching his, and they both broke out in laughter over their friend’s typical obliviousness. “Yes, I am, Serena,” Jade said when she had recovered. “Don’t worry, I’ll explain what I mean the next time we have some space to ourselves.”

“Oh, alright!” Serena chimed. “I’ve always wanted to know how you’re able to woo people so easily, but Veronica always gets angry when I’ve tried asking her about it…”

“I think she’s been doing that for a reason,” Erik said with a smirk.

“Oh, she’ll be all right if her sister gets at least a little bit of knowledge,” Jade said, making a dismissive gesture. “Now then…” She turned back towards the market stall, keeping her distance as the vendor described the supposedly superb quality of his wares to an unassuming tourist. Jade wasn’t convinced though, and Erik and Serena followed behind her as she turned towards the next stall in sequence, run by a woman in an orange tunic hawking mostly paintings of typical decorative landscapes over the trinkets and decorations peddled by most Phnomnians. 

The woman’s face immediately lit up at Jade’s approach, and she clapped her hands in delight. “Ah, greetings, madam! Look! My selection of lucky charms are—”

“Please ma’am,” Jade interrupted, raising a quieting hand. “I’m just here to take a look.” The vendor’s bearing deflated a little, and she stepped to the side to let Jade browse before reluctantly glancing at Erik and Serena. Erik was quick to raise both of his hands to get the message across, and her face fell with her dwindling chance of making a sale.

Jade hummed thoughtfully for a few seconds as she scanned the stand, her gaze passing over the paintings scattered around and the writing tools and books sitting atop a table—but she made an inquisitive sound as her eyes fell on something leaning against one of the books. Erik followed her gaze to a thin silver pin about as long as his hand, one end curling into a decorative spiral.

“Is that hairpin for sale?” Jade asked, pointing a finger.

“Hm? Oh, yes!” the vendor said, bouncing back to her previous liveliness. “That hairpin has been blessed by the lady of the mural to—”

“Goodness gracious, ma’am, just tell me how much it costs,” Jade sighed, pulling out her coin purse.

As Jade counted out the money for her purchase, a “Yooo hooo!” rung in Erik’s ears, and he looked towards the stairs she had come down a few minutes ago to find Sylvando and Rab descending—but instead of stepping down separately, Rab waved from behind Sylvando as the jester hefted him on his back, traveler’s backpack and everything.

“Uh, I know Rab’s legs aren’t what they used to be, but isn’t it kind of a lot, carrying him around here?” Erik asked at their approach.

Once Sylvando had stopped to let Rab leap off his back, he stretched out his arms, not looking much worse for wear. “Just a little bit, darling,” he chimed. “Going up and down these stairs is a bit of a chore on their own, but even adding heavy lifting into the mix isn’t a problem a little Oomph can fix.” He turned towards Jade and asked, “Find anything good to wear?”

“No, unfortunately,” Jade replied as she joined the group. “But, I did come across this little beauty just now, so things aren’t necessarily too bad,” she said, showing off her newly-bought hairpin to everyone.

“Aha, another one to add to your collection? Very nice!" Sylvando said with a nod. "Y’know, I think we need to take the time to go back and check all the places we’ve been before to see if we can’t find you anything as good as the things Rena and Ronnie have gotten so far.”

Serena’s eyes lit up. “Oh, I’d love that!”

“If only we had the opportunity,” Jade said, and she shifted her gaze to Rab before asking, “How’d the excursion go? Find out any new clues?”

Rab’s sigh was full of disappointment as he crossed his arms. “I’m afraid not, or at least, nothing substantial. It’s strange…most of the ruins in these parts of the Champs Sauvage only have a wee bit of differences from the ones dotted around Heliodor, and yet Nhou Wat has a completely different architectural style from either of them. But, while I don’t have the foggiest clue of what the Heliodorian ruins could have been, I’ll warrant that the ruins here are a temple of some sort, so that raises the question of what the others were for.” He wearily shook his head. “Ach, it all has my head spinning around in circles, I tell ye…

Jade hummed thoughtfully as she raised a hand to her chin. “Didn’t you say that the mural itself was made in the fashion of old Heliodorian paintings as well at some point?”

“Aye, that’s right,” Rab confirmed. “It seems this temple has more ties to Heliodor than we might have thought…but other than a possible connection to the man in the shadows, I cannae for the life of me figure out what it might mean.”

“Oh, right!” Sylvando chimed in. “Rena, remember how you said you liked imagining how people in the past lived? I asked that other scholarly lady who was there about what the temple was used for back in the day, and she said it might’ve been a place where people danced regularly!”

Serena let out a delighted gasp. “Really!?”

“That’s right! I thought you two would’ve found that interesting, so I had to make sure I asked.” Sylvando had kept his eyes on Serena, but they shifted to Erik as he finished his sentence.

Erik’s attention had begun to waver without a need to take part in the conversation, but Sylvando’s gaze and words gave him a nervous prod, snapping him back to attention. “Oh, uh—yeah, right!” he forced out with an uneasy chuckle. In the corner of his vision, Erik could see Serena eyeing him with a pout, and he felt his cheeks begin to warm. Scrambling for a change of subject, he asked, “Uh, so, what are you guys going to do, now that the mural’s closed?”

“Hmmm, good question,” Sylvando answered.

Jade released a contented breath. “Well, since there’s not much else to see in this town other than obnoxious salespeople, I think I’m going to head back to the inn and get some peace and quiet.”

“Aye, that sounds like a fine idea.” Rab said, beginning to stroke his mustache. “Maybe we should go and see if there’s anyone around town selling anything good for lifting the spirits, eh, Sylv?”

“Aha, something good to drink sounds mighty wonderful after all this walking, arriving in town and going up and down all these stairs,” Sylvando agreed.

“Kind of early to be hitting the hard stuff, don’t you think?” Erik asked, even though he could already guess the answer.

Sylvando slyly winked at him. “Honey, it’s never too early to have a good time.”

“And you two call yourself the adults in our little band…” Jade sighed, shaking her head.

* * *

“What’s this about not liking our dancing episode all of a sudden?” Serena said, eyeing Erik with disappointment as they climbed the next set of steps.

Erik released a guilty sigh. “I mean, I didn’t _not_ like it, but I still don’t really want everyone to know how goofy I looked that night…”

Serena giggled at her next thought. “Maybe you should perfect your smooth-looking sultry one to show off for everyone in case they do figure it out.”

“Eugh, that sounds like it would be a good idea, but no thanks. I’d rather stick with something where I at least have control over myself.” Erik scratched behind his neck. “Honestly, I’m not even sure where the heck I would’ve even _learned_ something like that…”

“Well, like I said before, if you don’t know where it comes from, then it obviously has to be something that comes from within yourself—and you should be open to expressing that!”

“Okay, but Sylv was there too, and wouldn’t he know something is up since I didn’t do anything even close to that when we were at that dance?” Erik asked, glancing to the side at a conspicuously unattended produce stall.

“Oh, I’m sure he wouldn’t mind at all if you did something different from then. Hmhm, I think he’d be over the moon to see you perform a dance for everyone else in the first place!”

Erik chuckled as they began to ascend the next flight of stairs. “Yeah, I think I’d have to be more than a few drinks in for me to even think about doing anything like that…”

“—ouldn’t be naughty, stealing from the kind tourists like that!”

Serena had laughed again, ready to joke about the last time her sister had too many strong drinks, but she faltered as the sharp voice of a child reached her ears. Quick footfalls rang out from above them, and she turned towards the red brick balusters as they ascended to see two Phnomnian children scampering down the front of the house to their left, a boy and a girl—the former being the child Serena had given her spending money to earlier.

“Oh hey, it’s that kid from before,” Erik noticed, stopping as they reached the top of the steps. “Wonder what the deal is with them?

“I’m not sure,” Serena replied, not liking the children’s impassioned voices, “but it doesn’t look to be particularly good.”

“No kidding. Let’s see what’s up.” Erik placed a hand upon the decorative white pillar at the top of the stairs, and Serena leaned forward against the baluster as she watched and listened in.

A set of stairs going to the balcony of the house was set upon its left side, and the girl halted in the shadows underneath before turning towards her brother, who was still speaking. “—should I have to stop taking money from tourists when we’re all being bad!? Mister Kosal down below says everything we sell is hooey, and he still sells his creations!”

“Mister Kosal only says that because he’s angry his stall doesn’t get many customers!” the girl snapped back. “It is easy to tell with how bitter he looks, therefore no one will buy from him!”

“Yes, but even if he does not make much money, it is good that all Phnomnians do, like Mommy says, you nincompoop!”

“The only reason we are getting so much good fortune from the lady is because we are getting customers to agree to honest trades! If we lie to them, the mural lady will begin to curse our fortune!”

“No, the mural lady is too kind for that! She brings us good fortune because Daddy and the other grown-ups give her their respects! She would never curse us, because she knows what’s good for the village—unlike you, dum-dum!”

The girl visibly winced at the boy’s insult, but her frown contorted a moment later. “She may not curse us, but Daddy will still be angry with you for tricking the tourists! I’m going to tell him right now!”

“Daddy has been at the mural since this morning! He is probably giving the mural lady enough respects so that she will continue to bless the salespeople of our village for the rest of our lives!”

“Well, I will be telling Mommy of how you used a naughty word instead, then!” the girl said emphatically.

Instead of another retort as Serena expected, a gasp escaped from the boy’s mouth. His posture visibly wilted for a moment, then he cupped his hands over his mouth and began to chant, “Boom-boom-boom-boom-boom!”

The girls expression grew pained, and she covered her ears. “Stop!”

“Boom-boom-boom-boom-boom, I can’t hear you!”

“No, stop it!” the girl cried, shaking her head pitifully before clenching her eyes shut. “You’re going to ruin beddy-bye time! Mommy!” Still covering her ears, she turned and rushed up the steps on the side of the house, and the boy chased after her, chanting “booms” all the while.

Serena watched the quarrel in silence the entire time; and by the time they had left, her irritation at being tricked by the boy had given way to dismay. It was obvious from their words and similar hair color that they were siblings, and seeing those two argue with each other so viciously was awful to see. “Dear me…” she breathed, “How could that boy treat her sister so horribly?”

Of all the reactions Erik could have had, the last one Serena expected was the one she saw as she looked at him—chuckling with eyes closed as if what they had witnessed wasn’t far removed from a typical conversation. Confused, and more than a little surprised, Serena asked, “Erik, what’s so funny?”

Erik glanced at her then, looking at her with that same amusement for a moment—and something in her gaze must have humored him even more as he began to laugh heartily.

“Erik!” Serena firmly repeated, baffled by her suddenly warming cheeks. “What in the world is so funny about this!?”

It took him a couple seconds, but Erik paused in his laughter to finally respond, “Rena, you’ve never had any bickering with Veronica get that bad?”

Serena faltered for a moment, reluctant to call back such lukewarm memories. “Well, yes, we did sometimes, when we were very young…but those were so long ago, and I would almost always cry whenever they did break out between us, enough that we agreed to settle our differences early on. But still, I don’t see any reason why you should be so entertained by those two children arguing like that!”

“It’s not really those kids as much as it is what it reminds me of,” Erik said, simmering down. He smiled at her expectantly and asked, “Don’t you remember how many times I told you about me and Mia arguing while we were sailing to all those islands?”

Serena raised a hand to her cheek as she thought back to all those nights—she certainly remembered him mentioning bickering with his sister multiple times, but those were all a blur compared to all the bittersweet moments of him describing their happier times, even more so when compared to the stories they told each other. “Yes, I do, but I don’t think I ever imagined them getting as horrible as it was between those two Phnomnians.”

Erik chuckled again, and he crossed his arms as he languidly leaned back against the pillar. “Well, I don’t really remember how much I got the point across before, but a spat like that was a pretty regular thing between me and Mia,” he explained, his eyes growing distant as he looked down. “We would get mad and yell and scream at each other almost every other day—we had always thought the Vikings were pretty bad with that, but we were probably just as bad as them…and sometimes things would come to blows or we’d do stupid stuff to each other, but…”

He paused for a moment to lift his head, and as his eyes drifted to the lanterns hanging from the roof another building, his smile grew just as warm as the orange light. “…I can’t really explain it, but no matter what happened, no matter how angry we got with one another…we both knew that we only had each other, and so…things would always work out.” Erik lifted a hand to scratch behind his head, but it wasn’t a nervous gesture. “Even if we came out of things liking each other less for a while, if that makes sense,” he added with a chuckle.

Serena breathlessly listened in as Erik reminisced, his words causing her heart to swell with delight at how sweet they were. She had thought it so terrible at first, hearing him speak of quarreling with Mia so often like that—but now, seeing him talk of it in such a fond way told her it was one of the things he cherished about his sister the most, and she couldn’t fault him for it. Not only that, but thinking of how he described his bickering then only reminded her of what he did now with Veronica—Serena had thought it an unfortunate quirk of Erik’s anger clashing with her sister’s forcefulness, but now she realized he was only returning to what came naturally to him. It was such a strange contrast, how he could make something that always seemed so callous to her appear so endearing; but of course, his true self, tenderhearted and caring as it was, certainly could, and Serena loved it.

Oh, she loved how much love he spoke of his sister with, even if he said that it wasn’t particularly his—

_Wait a moment,_ Serena thought, realization dawning upon her like the sunlight shining on them both. _Didn’t he describe love, just now?_

It seemed almost unfathomable when she initially considered it, but it made sense, didn’t it? She knew that no matter how much of a burden she could be for Veronica, her sister would love her as she always had. They certainly didn’t express their love for each other in the same fashion as Erik did for his…but it had to be one and the same. He just didn’t know how to put it into words himself, did he?

Serena felt a prickle of nervousness at her next thought. She had to identify what Erik’s feelings for his sister truly were. She risked all the effort she had made at carefully making sure things would fall into place, but maybe if he knew what love was now, he would be able to connect it to how he felt about Serena more easily.

Her nerves seemed to lessen as she reached that conclusion, and so she pushed forward. “Erik,” she began, smiling as she sidled closer to him, “have you ever thought about your love for your sister before?”

“Wait, what?” Erik replied, his expression both surprised and curious. “What do you mean, ‘love?’”

“Exactly what it means,” Serena said, nodding at him.

It took a few moments, but his eyes narrowed in contemplation as he seemed to realize what she meant. “But…isn’t that just all that stuff where people do a bunch of weird gestures and make really sentimental promises? No offense.”

Serena’s cheeks began to warm, and she sheepishly glanced away for a moment. “Well, that is one kind of love, or at least, how people who come together in a romantic way express their love. But really, love is that affection you feel for things that’s deeper than just simply liking—things that you truly enjoy, enough that you would always want to hold onto them; like for me, being able to play the lyre or sweet foods…or for both of us, the memories of the happy times that we’ve shared with all our other companions.

“But, for us and our sisters, love is something that we’ve always known. I’m not sure if I can say if it’s much different from the former, since it’s something that can develop even between people who aren’t born together even if it’s not romantic—but for who you’re related to, it’s something instinctive, something that can never be stifled.” Serena paused for a moment to clasp her hands and close her eyes. Even with the ambience of Phnom Nonh surrounding her, she could still imagine the forceful rhythm of her sister’s pulse, comforting her at the edge of her awareness. “So, for Veronica and I, I know this for certain: no matter how much she charges ahead, she’s always going to be willing to slow down for me, because if we traded places, she knows that I would do the same for her. We’re always going to remain together, because that’s how it’s always been, and that’s how it’s always going to be, now and forever.”

A delightful warmth had grown in Serena’s heart throughout her spiel, and she released it with a breath as she opened her eyes and looked at Erik. “Does that…make sense?”

For a brief moment, she was disheartened to find him still in the same position as before, his narrowed eyes pensive as he looked down, but it was gone in a blink of his eyes—replaced by a contemplative wistfulness as he seemed to understand her words. When Erik met her gaze, his eyes remained half-lidded, but Serena could see the beginnings of a smile in his expression. “I think it does.”

Serena nodded in acknowledgement. His grateful look was enough to tell her that he understood, but despite her lingering nervousness, she would make certain he had a nudge in the proper direction. Her eyes drifted away as she imagined how he would look when he realized he shared the same feelings as her. “Erik…I’m not sure much love you’ve experienced, and I know your life likely wasn’t the best place for it before, but…I hope you’ll be able to better understand it now, from both within you and outside you.”

She glanced back at Erik as he returned her nod, and his smile began to grow. “Yeah…I hope so, too.”


	17. Colloquies in the Champs Sauvage

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello, have you ever considered that Dragon Quest XI is a balanced enough videogame that grinding for experience points is unnecessary at quite literally any point in a vanilla playthrough (spoilers abound, but see [this](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLK34d09zFlHpGxvYi24JJ_9fwVVRMzRYQ), and more recently [this](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbSv8zSDR9c3LqgBpOYsZOtq8gBAxox9I)), and therefore giving you two Thunder Thrust users early on is redundant and subsequently makes it seem more appealing if Serena got access to one of her spear counter stance skills at a point where they would have obvious use? I think about this a lot. Admittedly, this requires a willingness to experiment around that typical ideas of what it takes to progress through JRPGs don't encourage, and would probably take more than one playthrough for someone to really notice, but I digress.

“Alright, ready to try again?” Jade asked Serena, her friend’s face bathed in the dark blue shadows of the night as they crouched next to each other behind a boulder in the southern Champs Sauvage.

Between the dewed fronds of the large plant that lay to the side of the rock, Serena could see more of their quarries—a pair of handsome crabs, waggling in that frenetic way of theirs as they roved further up a small incline. Their hard carapace exteriors were some of the more difficult to pierce with normal strikes compared to other monsters roaming the southern wetlands without the assistance of an Oomph or Sap, though by then Serena and the rest of the party were strong enough to deal considerable damage without any aid. That—and their newfound fear of Serena and her companions pressuring them to flee on sight—made them fitting targets for practicing defense-piercing Thunder Thrusts.

But, nearly two hours had passed since they had begun their session after the night’s dinner, and Serena’s frustration had ballooned within her chest, built up over the entire training session so far. She forced it down as best she could, before turning to Jade and nodding.

“Okay,” Jade acknowledged. “Remember—channel your affinity into the spear, keep your feet grounded, and aim where the opponent is going.”

“Right,” Serena replied, unable to keep dejection from creeping into her affirmation. Jade flashed a conciliatory smile before raising herself from her crouch and circling around Serena, moving slowly through the tall grass towards the handsome crabs.

Serena took a deep breath and gripped her trident tighter, trying to rein in her wayward mind from lingering over the day’s haunting events. She had been successful in pushing away those thoughts by recounting her knowledge about various subjects, so this time Serena decided to go over the mechanics of using magic and abilities, which were based around two concepts: affinity and willpower. Channeling her affinity was simple, something she did every time she used magic—every mage had their own innate level of connection to each of the world’s seven principal elements: fire, ice, wind, earth, thunder, light, and even the volatile darkness; and as such Serena’s affinity for wind and light far outpaced the others, both of which she used often for wind and healing spells. With enough trained willpower of the soul, one could control these natural energies of the world to bend things to their wishes: launch concentrated bursts of the elements at something, manipulate a being’s health or psyche or stamina and more, or temporarily enchant these qualities for themselves or their comrades through various items and equipment.

For Serena and Veronica and other mages, the measurement of how much one could channel their willpower to utilize the elements was known as magic; but Serena had been quickly surprised to learn there were other ways of classifying it as well—for Jade and other martial artists, willpower was known as chi, simply used for enhancing their own abilities. Rab had informed Serena shortly after they joined the party that there was plenty more about willpower that humans were yet to understand…apparently if one’s willpower was strong enough in certain aspects, their soul could remain and continue to affect the world for an indefinite amount of time even if their body had passed away. There was even the possibility of—

“Serena!” came a distant hiss from Jade. The sharpness in her voice was defied by the sympathetic look Serena could make out on Jade’s faraway face as she hid behind another large plant further up the slope, since even she had been considerably affected by the day’s developments. Jade waved her forward, and Serena took a deep breath before raising herself from her crouch, then rushed around the boulder towards the handsome crabs.

Despite being able to face the party head on within battle, crabids had the odd quirk of being completely oblivious to their presence when directly in front of their eyes, like Jade was now—but when Serena was within a few steps to the side of the foremost crabid, it momentarily froze as it noticed her in the corner of its eye, ready to turn and flee. But in the midst of its turn, Jade was already there—and with one swift sweep of her leg the handsome crab was crumpled on the ground, openly vulnerable as the other scurried away. “Now!” Jade called.

Serena fell into her battle stance as she came to a halt just before the crabid, repeating the motions in her head as she executed them in the second. _Channel your wind affinity into your spear,_ she thought as she slowly drew back her trident.

_Keep your feet grounded,_ steadying her weight upon her back foot. The handsome crab recovered from Jade’s sweep as it raised itself from the ground, and for a split-second it stared straight at Serena as its eyes steadied.

_Aim where the opponent is going!_ She honed her instincts on the crabid’s eyes—and when it’s pupils moved to her left, she aimed her trident and let herself lunge forward.

Exhilaration rushed through Serena when she felt resistance upon her thrust hitting home—but it was quickly fleeting when she saw the handsome crab merely spring back in pain; still conscious, yet severely hampered, its right claw lying limp on the ground as the rest of its body continued to waggle.

Jade’s breath of displeasure was light, but Serena could still recognize the disappointment in it. “Another strike too far forward,” she assessed. “At least this one wasn’t a normal hit, I suppose…” Still lingering in her own low spirits, Serena couldn’t take her eyes off the staggered handsome crab until Jade entered her vision, and one stab of her lightning lance was all it took for the monster to dissolve into dust. Jade’s expression was solemn as she met Serena’s eyes, but she could tell her friend was struggling to keep discouragement from her face as well. “Come on, then. Let’s go find another,” she said, passing Serena as she started towards the north.

As Serena turned and followed behind her teacher, her shoved-down frustration inevitably rose within herself once again. The sun had been close to settling completely by the time the party had left Phnom Nonh after they found Mony’s inn completely filled by returning tourists, and shortly after she and Jade had enjoyed the night’s fitting dinner, they had returned to spear practice at her friend’s suggestion to keep their mind away from the day’s events.

With her progression seemingly halted, it was difficult for Serena to even keep her mind from thinking about anything other than her failures with how grating they felt. Yesterday’s session had been their first since the party had reached the Champs Sauvage, and she had been energized initially with how simple it was for her to channel the proper energy for those oddly-named Thunder Thrusts, since it was similar to how she had casted Woosh magic all her life. But after that, her progress had completely stalled, and they had spent the rest of that drizzly evening trundling around the pond in front of the path leading into Phnom Nonh, with Eleven and Veronica in tow as they gathered enough rainproof rayon for the man who took care of the village’s lanterns.

So far, this clearer evening had been more of the same. She knew it had only been an hour since then, but dusk had given way to night after what felt like much longer, and yet Serena still wasn’t able to get over this final hurdle—and the reason seemed to change with nearly every other failure. The previous one had been to her aiming her spear too far forward in the crabid’s path, but she still struggled with reflexively striking where her target was instead of where it was going in many of her attempts, and more than a few had failed because of her simply forgetting to channel her magic properly. At every junction this evening, Serena had messed up for what seemed like the silliest of reasons. She knew she was so close to properly executing the technique, and yet the distance seemed to widen with every failure, enough that it almost felt like an impossibility.

_No,_ Serena told herself, shaking her head as the denial pushed through the thorny thoughts in her head. She would push onwards with her training. She wouldn’t—couldn’t give it up. Even if she weren’t able to perform Thunder Thrusts, she would keep going, not just because she needed to keep herself safe, but because she needed to better herself. She needed to be stronger.

She needed to be more like Ve—

A sigh from Jade suddenly extracted Serena from her thoughts, and when she glanced in her direction she found a knowing glint in her friend’s sidelong eyes. “This is always the worst part of improving at something, isn’t it?” Jade said, her tone conversational. “Knowing exactly what you’re doing wrong, but your muscles suddenly doesn’t know how to correct themselves, trying to work with all that built up frustration.” Surprise must have been visible on Serena’s face when she realized her teacher had guessed what she was thinking, since Jade smiled at her. “Shake it off, Serena. You’ll get it eventually.”

Even with how attuned Jade was to her learning habits by then, a nervous twinge pulled at Serena for how obvious her displeasure was, but she nodded gratefully all the same as they continued walking.

Having cleared out all the handsome crabs wandering south of the campsite, Serena and Jade headed towards the pond that the bridge to Phnom Nonh crossed over, keeping themselves in the greenery to avoid the golems and corpse corporals that still saw fit to attack them. As they walked past for what felt like the umpteenth time, Serena’s wistfulness grew ever stronger as she saw the rest of her companions merrily talking and laughing around the campfire—especially when she noticed Erik laughing along with them. She had to squint to see it, but she was certain an easy smile had never left his face every time she passed by, and her disappointment diminished in turn whenever she saw it, temporarily lessened by the swelling of her heart.

But she couldn’t focus on that now. _“Keep your focus on you and your weapon, not on the world around you,”_ Jade had told her in those first few days of training. Serena pulled her gaze from Erik and her companions to scan their surroundings for another crabid to practice upon.

Merely a few seconds after she began her surveying, Serena’s eyes lingered on a smidge of red standing out in the night, and when she recognized the red tunic of a corpse corporal, her focus fled further away from her unease as the day’s events unfurled in her mind’s eye. Being absorbed into the warped world that lay within the mural, with its stone platforms floating in a chillingly hazy vastness…those thorns that surrounded them, enormous and spiked and gnarled, swaying with open maws ready to lunge at them…its bizzare and demonic monsters not just assaulting them at every turn, but coming to life or somehow crawling out from within those thin gray slabs…“unholy” didn’t begin to describe the things that stalked that sinister other side.

And yet, what she found most unsettling was the root cause of everything: Dora, the little lost girl, turning out to be that dreadful monster. Not only that, but taking such an innocent facade and bending it for such depraved ends, immortalizing all those people in such an enchantingly wicked way… It was all so terribly appalling to Serena as it occurred, enough that the determination to stop it allowed her to maintain a steely facade throughout the entire ordeal—but soon after, when things were finally brought to an end, the day’s events continued to disturb her, much more so than anything else that had happened over their journey so far.

Serena had thought the Phnomnian boy who’d tricked her out of her money the day before would have been the most backwards thing to happen to her in Phnom Nonh, but dealing with Dora-in-Grey left Serena with a far greater magnitude of dismay. She hated it when people feigned benevolence to enact immoral ends. Even if she knew it wasn’t a particularly uncommon tactic for deception, to her it had always seemed like an awful abuse of a person’s truer, kinder nature.

Although…now that she thought about the true nature of things while doing what she was now, training to better combat monsters, her mind could only drift back to the time the party had spent at L'Académie. The monsters they had encountered, though they certainly were visibly different from the cultivated human girls who were enrolled there with their more biological peculiarities, they still weren’t very different from their fellow students.

Serena took another glance at the corpse corporal, wandering near the crags to the west, and for a moment she thought she could see make out Malodorine Delamorgue’s navy blue uniform and pink hair over the red and yellow that was actually there. Though the Académie’s resident walking corpse spoke in that same guttural moan and carried herself in the same fashion as others of her kind—and her flowery perfume was quite too much for Serena’s nostrils—she was just as jolly and pleasant as many of the other students.

She thought about her changing perceptions of monsters throughout her life, most of the significant change spurred by what she had seen on the journey so far. Serena had always believed that monsters were kindly creatures at heart, even if they easily became threats to humans. The sabrecub she had tried playing with at Zwaardsrust a month ago wanted nothing but to enjoy its frivolity; and its parent only attacked Serena not out of spite, but its motherly instincts to protect its child from the unknown. She knew she would likely do the same if she were in that situation, so she couldn’t fault them for that, but since it would likely grow up to become more aggressive, just like other monsters, it led Serena to question—what _was_ a monster’s true nature?

“Jade…” Serena began, unable to keep her musings to herself any longer. “Did meeting the friendly monsters at L'Académie change your perspective on them in any way?”

A part of Serena expected her teacher to dismiss her question for not being focused on training as she usually did, but Jade’s glance grew curious at her mention of L'Académie. “Good question,” she answered, adjusting her grip on her lance resting on her shoulder. She hummed thoughtfully for a few more steps. “I’m not sure if I had any real perspective on monsters before our visit, or even before Rab and I had begun our search for Eleven. I certainly detested them after the attack on Dundrasil, but that’s not very different from many other people, since attacking helpless humans seems to be what many of them like to do. Why do you ask?”

Serena felt a tingling embarrassment. “Well, despite being told multiple times before that all monsters were evil, I had always thought that some of them weren’t as dangerous as the others. But after seeing a few of the more unpleasant-seeming monsters monsters living out their lives at the Académie, I’m not so certain if it’s limited to just a small few anymore.”

“Is this about your encounter with that sabrecat at Zwaardsrust shortly before we met?” Jade asked.

Serena’s cheeks began to warm. “Sort of,” she answered, trying to keep her face placid.

Jade chuckled lightly at her anyway. “Oh, don’t worry, Veronica didn’t have anything bad to say when she told me.” She glanced past Serena for a moment and said, “This should be a good spot.” By then, they had were close to the pond enough for the ground to begin sloping down to its banks, and she pointed to a large pair of leafy plants jutting from the tall grass near the pond, big enough for them both to hide themselves with, and they crouched down behind them with their backs to the water. “To tell the truth, while L'Académie solidified the idea that things weren’t exactly the same between all monsters for me, it certainly wasn’t the first time I hadn’t met any friendly ones before. Do you remember the slime at Dundrasil?”

“The one that told us about the well that led deeper into the ruins?” Serena recallled.

“That’s right,” Jade nodded, her eyes growing distant. “The same one that surprised Rab and I with the knowledge that the underground pathway leading to the ruins had remained intact, so long ago. I’m not sure what connection they had to the region, since Rab says slimes were never native to Dundrasil, but every time we passed through for him to visit Lady Eleanor’s grave, they were always there, trying to keep clear from the roaming dragons that moved into the ruins.” She smiled wanly. “Eventually they started to remember how much time passed between our visits, and then it would sometimes tell us what inquisitive travelers or looters snooped around the ruins while we were gone.”

“Hmhm, I’d always wondered why it didn’t immediately flee from us when we first encountered it, given how timid it was.”

“Hehe, it took a fair bit of persuasion to convince them to not run away from you all, especially since I’m sure they’d never encountered that many humans at once.” She sighed, seemingly wistful and regretful at once, before meeting her eyes. “But, to answer your question—visiting L'Académie certainly changed my outlook on monsters, among quite a few other things. I think it’s wonderful some of them can circumvent whatever it is that makes them so typically hostile towards humans to live with those girls, especially since they don’t seem to be much different than the rest of them.”

“There’s certainly more to those monsters than what they seem, isn’t there?” Serena asked.

“Yes…those are always the most interesting surprises, when you find there’s a hidden side to someone behind how they initially seem.” Jade’s gaze drifted to Serena’s left towards the campsite as she spoke, and her eyes took on an amused glint as they focused on something there. It was gone in a blink of her eyes, and Jade’s expression returned to her normal training firmness. “Alright then, I think that’s enough of a break. Let’s get back to learning how to deal with the monsters that aren’t so friendly, shall we?”

Serena nodded, grateful for the chance to take her mind off her frustrations for a spell. They returned to surveying their surroundings for another handsome crab to practice upon, but this close to the pond, it didn’t take long—just a couple dozen feet ahead of them was one of those blue-shelled crabids, following the bank towards a rocky outcropping at the water’s edge.

Jade raised herself from her crouch, gesturing for Serena to rise as well. “Okay Serena, remember—channel your affinity into the spear, keep your feet grounded, and aim where the opponent is going.”

“Channel my affinity into the spear, keep my feet grounded, and aim where the opponent is going,” Serena repeated, tightening her grip on her trident. Jade nodded her acknowledgment, and together they took off towards the handsome crab.

The crabid was oriented towards them as it climbed the riverbank, allowing it to react to their hurried approach much earlier than the others—but Jade’s leap forward covered the last half-dozen strides needed to get behind in time, and she swept its legs out from under it just before it could scamper away. “Now, Serena!”

Serena halted herself before the handsome crab, running through the motions in her head just as she’d done before. She kept her feet steady as she channeled her affinity into her spear—and when the crabid’s eyes shifted to her right as it raised itself from its fall, Serena aimed her trident and lunged forward.

Elation rushed through Serena when she felt the split second of resistance from her thrust connecting—and when she saw the handsome crab tumbling backwards in the air before flopping on the ground and dissolving, her joy rose to a triumphant crescendo, one that she could only release with a delighted squeal. “I got it! I got it!” she exclaimed, giddily bouncing on the balls of her feet.

“You did it!” Jade cheered, her rapid clapping belying a similar excitement behind her coolly proud expression. Her smile abruptly wavered as her body stiffened at the sound of a heavy thud, and the warrior princess glanced to the side towards a now-alert golem and corpse corporal on the other side of the nearby path. “I think it’d be best if we hold off on the celebrations for a moment. Come on!"

Jade and Serena fled before the monsters could focus their attentions on them. The corpse corporal certainly wouldn’t have been too troublesome for them to handle with a pair of sanctified strikes, but they would need at least one other companion to help with the golem, and they were averse to interrupt everyone else while they relaxed at the campsite. They ran in that direction for a dozen strides, slowing to a walk when Jade was sure they had avoided notice from any still-aggressive monsters.

Slowing down wasn’t enough to dispel Serena’s excitement from finally getting the Thunder Thrust right, and she asked, “Are we going to find more handsome crabs to practice on?”

“No, I think that’s enough of that for now,” Jade replied, sighing contentedly.

Serena couldn’t help but deflate a little at her response. “But isn’t it always better for me to keep practicing so we can be certain I’ve learned things properly?” she asked, repeated what her teacher had told her before.

Jade let out a light laugh. “It is, but as strong as this technique might seem, it’s not one that sees much use. If only getting metal slimes to appear weren’t as big of a hassle as it is…” she muttered. Louder, she said, “We’ll leave that one for your muscle memory to internalize. I think it’s time we both tried learning something together.”

“Both of us?” Serena asked, slightly surprised that there was something Jade didn’t know about using spears. “Is it something entirely new?”

“Not necessarily,” Jade idly replied, glancing to the side as they passed by the campsite. “To tell the truth, I’ve had a bit of practice with it before, but it’s nothing I’ve made a deliberate effort of improving, since it’s easy to get tunnel vision while using it. But,” she said, a hint of admiration entering her voice, “since it’s based on pure instinct, I think it would be good if we tried honing it. In fact, it’s something you’ve had your first attempt at go quite well, recently.”

Serena was confused, since she was absolutely certain she hadn’t used anything new in their battles over the past few days. “Really?”

“Mmhmm,” Jade nodded. “Over there should be fine.” She gestured towards a clear space next to a slender tree uphill from the campsite, the shadow of the tree hiding them from the pteranodons that had returned to roaming the skies. When they stopped, Jade turned towards Serena with an eager glint in her eyes. “Serena, I’m going to teach you how to properly counterattack.”

“Counterattack?” Serena echoed, thinking about what she had told her about the term early on in their training. “Isn’t that something you said we use in every battle?”

“It is,” Jade replied matter-of-factly. “Avoiding an opponents strike and hitting them back is the bread and butter of fighting, of course. What you’re referring to is something that mostly happens in the heat of the moment and isn’t always successful.” She raised a finger suggestively. “But, what I want us to learn is much more deliberate: tapping into the proper instincts and channeling the proper chi to make sure we can dodge an opponent’s attacks most of, if not all the time—and be poised to strike right back.”

As Serena processed Jade’s explanation, she suddenly remembered her teacher had told her about this before, early on when she had asked her about what else she could do—or wanted to do, in that case—as a martial artist shortly after she had joined the party. “But…didn’t you also say that this technique was too risky to use at times because of how many enemies we tend to attract at once?”

“Well, that’s because I have a habit of overextending a little whenever I try capitalizing on openings, since I like making sure my opponents are properly punished for trying,” Jade admitted, her look growing slightly sheepish. “But, since you’re likely going to be focused on keeping enemies away from yourself instead of taking advantage of their aggressiveness, you shouldn’t have that much of an issue.”

Her teacher was right that Serena never particularly had any inclination to capitalize on her opponents’ falterings whenever she managed to parry an attack; so Jade’s explanation made sense—but she was still uncertain about trying such a technique with how frantic battles could be. “I’m not so sure… I’ve never thought of myself being good at focusing on multiple things at a time. Whenever there’s so many things happening in battle, sometimes I can see and hear so many things that it gets overwhelming…”

Jade shook her head. “That’s your keen senses at work, Serena. That might be troublesome in everyday situations, but in a fight with many things happening at once, being able to see and hear more than the average person is absolutely invaluable. We’ve just got to work on helping you figure out exactly what to look for. And like I said before—it’s something you’ve already got a bit of experience with. At the Eyrie, a couple of days ago, remember?”

Serena perked up at that, releasing a surprised breath. “You mean when I struck back against the elysium bird?”

“That’s right,” Jade replied. “Try to think back to that moment—when that bird was about to strike, how did it feel? What were you reacting to?”

Serena tilted her head as she hummed thoughtfully for a few seconds. The excitement at performing such a chance maneuver was still easy to recall, but what had taken place in those few seconds had turned into a blur in her memory, and she strained to recall it. “Well, I’m not sure how I knew what I was reacting to, since I’m certain my mind was more charged by panic than anything but…when I saw one of the bird’s talons raised higher than the other, my body seemed to simply know what direction it was going to attack in, so I allowed my instincts to move myself the other way to avoid it.”

Jade nodded her satisfaction. “And what about now? What have you been training to react to when it comes to Thunder Thrusts?”

“The opponent’s eyes,” Serena answered. “Because if you pay attention to the opponent’s eyes, they’ll usually give away where they want to go next, and…” She trailed off as her mind tried to grasp for the connection, lingering just outside her reach.

“And?” Jade repeated, an avid edge to her voice. “If they give away the direction they want to go, what else can they reveal?”

Serena gasped when her teacher’s words keyed her into the answer. “…and if you can react to the opponent’s eyes, they’ll give away what action they’re going to perform next!”

“Right!” Jade chimed, clenching a fist. “Luckily for us, since we typically deal with monsters who tend to attack in a limited set of ways over human duelists who can easily adapt to our strategies, we’ll have a much easier time learning what cues to react to for each monster. Once we do that, we’ll be moving based on those cues to position ourselves in places where we can easily retaliate, just like you did with the elysium bird. Make sense?”

Serena nodded eagerly, and Jade returned her nod before taking her lightning lance in both hands again. “Alright then—shall we get started?”

* * *

“Yeah, right,” Veronica cheekily replied, rolling her eyes at Sylvando’s suggestion. She sat to the jester’s right on the other side of the fire from Erik. “Those bozos would probably charge you a hundred coins for every single step they lugged you up—and only if you paid some stupid unrelated fee in the first place!”

“They’d probably just make you buy a ticket or some junk before they’d even let you get that kind of treatment,” Erik chimed in, before raising a spoonful of _samlar kari_ to his mouth. Contrary to what he’d joked the day before, Eleven hadn’t noticed the curry when they were in Phnom Nonh the day before—but once Serena pointed out the stew to him after Veronica asked what they were doing for dinner as the party was leaving town, his eyes lit up brighter than a lantern, and they’d ended up carrying an entire potful of the stuff with them to camp, what with the inn suddenly filled up with long-lost tourists.

Sylvando grumpily shrugged his arms. “Oh, come on, darlings, you all are underestimating how much honesty proper businesspeople can show!”

“Ahhh, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, Sylv, but even the most honest-seeming business can be secretly up to no good behind the scenes,” Rab said, shaking his head. “Most of the shops in the ‘ol Dundrasil were headed by folk as fine as ye could ever find them, but I can remember more than a few seemingly legitimate businesses brought to my attention that were practically stealing from their customers with some of their practices…in fact, one of them even served as the front for a troublesome den of thieves. No offense, laddie,” he added, inclining his head to his left at Erik.

Despite feeling an irksome prod, Erik chuckled at the remark. “None taken.”

Veronica released a disappointed breath as she adjusted her position atop her pile of hay. “Seriously, Grandad—if you or anyone else with a speck of decency were running that town, practically anyone who wasn’t selling food wouldn’t be in business.”

“I think the entire place would go under if that happened,” Erik said.

Sylvando’s expression brightened. “Maybe we could offer some suggestions for new businesses, since we’re all such honest people! Darlings, if you could run your own store, what would it be?”

Veronica immediately rattled off, “A bakery, with Serena, back home.” Erik snickered, and when his humor drew a laugh from Rab, she glared at them both. “What?”

“Ronnie, I like everyone’s cooking, but I think your preference for having everything walking the tightrope between spicy and sweltering gives us doubts about how that would transfer to more delicate foods,” Sylvando said, smiling tightly.

“Oh, so even the fire breather can’t handle his food bursting with flavor, huh? Weaklings,” Veronica grouched. “Assuming your taste in business is just as exquisite as your tongue, what would you do then?”

“That’s easy!” Sylvando chimed, raising a finger. “I’d have a music store, with—”

“Now Sylv,” Rab interrupted, “I love me some music just as much as the next lad, but don’t ye think it’d be better to have something that didn’t have to do with what ye already do for a living?”

Sylvando faltered for a moment, then brought his finger to his chin. “Well, if I can’t make people happy as an entertainer, then I’d… Ah! I’d run an orphanage, but for animals!”

“What, you mean like a horse stable?” Erik asked, only slightly less confused then how Veronica and Rab looked.

“Those can be a part too, although I’m not sure how much extra effort that would take compared to what I had in mind,” Sylvando replied, grinning. “I’m talking about smaller animals, the stray cats and dogs you see wandering around big cities! I’d gather up as many as I can, take them around the world with me, and let people adopt them whenever I stop in a town. Oh, I can imagine the twinkling eyes and smiles of all the people when they get to meet their new best friends now…”

“Huh,” Erik idly said. “Could’ve fooled me, with everything you seem to know about horses.”

Sylvando smile visibly widened, but Erik thought he could catch a hint of distance in the jester’s eyes. “Oh no, darling. You think I like horses? Let me tell you, I had an old friend back in the day who could tell you nearly _anything_ about a horse after looking at them for a few seconds—how old it was, what breed they were, if it was sick or not—even how big their daily diet was!”

Rab chuckled heartily. “Ah, another fellow who knows a lot about their purview, eh? I think I’d like to meet them.”

“Hm, I’m not so sure about that. The last time I ran into him, he was just as hardheaded as ever, and I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t take to a few of us particularly well…” When Sylvando’s eyes met Erik’s, his smile took on a knowing edge.

“Well, that’s quite the admirable pursuit, one I’m sure Serena and I would appreciate…” Veronica began, her expression suddenly sharpening, “—but that’s also a way of saying basically the exact same thing you do for a living now!”

Sylvando’s look soured. “Honey, please, that’s not the same thing at all!”

“Of course it’s the same thing! Even if you’re not the one actually providing the happiness for people, you’re still the one bringing it to them!”

“It kind of isn’t,” Erik said, keeping his voice even without a stake in the discussion.

“Aye,” Rab agreed. “I wouldn’t take your answer if it were something ye could easily find at a circus, but I think that’s far enough from the mark to be acceptable.”

“Ugh, fine,” Veronica conceded. “But if you’re going to pick a business, make it something that actually needs money—or at least be hard for us to guess!”

“Aha, you want a hard question?” Sylvando echoed, his smile turning lopsided. “What would our heroic Luminary Eleven have a store for, hm?”

Rab and Veronica’s looks grew contemplative at Sylvando’s question, but Erik didn’t need to think about his answer. “Yeah, he’d be a blacksmith,” he said matter-of-factly.

Veronica snorted. “Nice job on being deaf to the last ten seconds, as if that’s not what he practically lives and breathes whenever we’re camping.” She flapped a hand to the corner of the campsite at Eleven, digging into his third bowl of curry while taking a break from forging.

“Come now, lassie, just because someone’s the man for the job doesn’t necessarily mean they like their job—and plus, Erik’s known Eleven longer than any of us,” Rab reasoned. “Mind elaborating on your guess, laddie?”

“I mean, I can just call it a funny hunch, but it’s pretty obvious that El’s grown to like the thing.” Erik said, smiling at how much use Eleven had gotten out of his old Fun-Size Forge, especially given how long he’d lugged the thing around without using it. “Pulling it out’s usually the first thing he does whenever he comes across a new recipe book, and if he didn’t save us enough money from making half our gear on the thing, I think he’d make a fair bit of it taking what he finds scrounging around and flipping what he makes from it.”

Veronica frowned at him. “But Eleven liking something can apply to just about anything you see him doing, regardless of how mundane or extraordinary it is! What makes you so sure about this?”

Erik craned his head to his left towards his partner. “Hey El!”

Eleven had begun to whale away at the forge again, but he paused mid-swing and turned towards Erik inquisitively.

“If you had a shop, what would you sell?” Erik asked.

Eleven’s expression grew thoughtful as he raised his free hand to his chin. After a few moments, he smiled wanly while pointing down at the forge a couple times, then promptly went back to his hammering.

Erik crossed his arms and adopted a self-satisfied look as he turned back towards the campfire. “See?”

Veronica looked away from him and waved a dismissive hand. “Whatever.”

Erik shrugged. “Hey, it’s not my fault he started clamming up more than he used to once our little band grew into a crowd.”

“Some people just like to talk to others who are in the same headspace as them,” Sylvando said.

“Ugh, Eleven might be a charmer, but I’m not even sure if he’s even on the same plane of existence as everyone else half the time,” Veronica griped.

“Don’t worry, lassie,” Rab chimed. “I’m sure Eleven will open up to everyone about why he’s only chatty once every blue moon eventually.”

“I’m still trying to figure that out myself,” Erik chuckled.

“One of the world’s great mysteries,” Sylvando intoned, lowering his voice for dramatic effect. “So, what would the right-hand man of Yggdrasil’s chosen want to do with his store?”

“Me? Good question.” Erik leaned back on his pile of twigs as he finally started to consider the subject at hand for a few moments. “I don’t know. An item shop?”

“Wow, what an original answer,” Veronica sassed.

“Wow, what an original response,” Erik shot back.

Rab’s chuckle interrupted them before they could keep going. “I think she wants ye to be more specific about the _kind_ of items ye’d be selling, laddie.”

“Hmmm…” Erik’s first thought was riffing off Derk and selling knick-knacks and other unusual stuff he came across on his travels, but his old partner had the advantage of an eye for value that Erik couldn’t hope to match. But, when he thought about who was the better of them at actually getting around, he found his answer. “Maybe…a shop for people who like to travel?”

“You mean a traveling merchant?” Sylvando asked.

“No, like a store that carries a bunch of supplies…tents, backpacks, cooking gear, torches, maybe a few maps if you can get them—everything someone would need to live on the road.”

“Isn’t that all stuff you can get in any old general store?” Veronica asked dubiously.

“Pffft, wouldn’t that be nice. You’re gonna be hard pressed to find half of that stuff for sale all at once in a regular store. Remember how many doors we had to knock on in Puerto Valor to find someone willing to sell us an even _bigger_ tent once Rab and Jade joined up with us? And I’m talking things that are made to last a journey—half the stuff you see in your typical shop are made to sit in a house somewhere instead of being built to last.”

“Hyeh heh, with a mind for quality like that, I don’t think ye’d be half bad at being a traveling merchant,” Rab cheerily said. “Reminds me of an auld salesman friend o’ mine who passed away not long before the kingdom fell…I wonder if we’ll ever run into Taloon’s daughter if she’s still traveling around anytime soon,” he added wistfully.

“Okay then, mister I-know-every-other-person-in-Erdrea, how about you?” Sylvando inquired.

Rab chuckled again as he began to stroke his mustache. “Well, I’ll have ye all know I met me dearly departed Edith in a bookshop, and once my daughter’s man took the throne, I had always thought about opening up one of my own.”

“Oh no, Grandad, you might not be an egghead by trade, but we already said you can’t have anything easy to guess!” Veronica snapped.

“Ah, but ye forget—while it might be a bookshop, that doesn’t tell ye what kind of books you’d be able to find,” Rab replied with a smirk.

“Well, what kind of books would you have?” Erik asked.

“Hyeh heh, that’s the conondrum, laddie. Probably would’ve gotten to it if I still weren’t needed in the castle. Maybe I will, once everything is over.” Rab’s eyes brightened as a thought seemed to occur to him, and he asked, “How about you folks tell me what each of you’d like so I can put it down for later?” 

“Ooooh, could you get some dramatic plays in there?” Sylvando eagerly asked.

“Oh Goddess, you actually remembered that book?” Erik grumbled.

“But of course I do, darling! I’m not much of a reader, but even without the stage to act it out, you can just feel the emotion radiating from those pages! The passion! The conviction! The twists and turns that reveal the people you thought were your enemies were really your allies all along! It’s all so captivating!”

“Aye, I’ll be sure to keep in touch with the local playwrights then,” Rab chuckled. “What about you two bairns?”

Veronica hummed thoughtfully for a moment. “You think you could get any books on botany?”

Rab nodded in affirmation. “I certainly can.”

“Wait, that’s the stuff that has to do with flowers, isn’t it?” Erik asked, reminded of their pickled stint in Gondolia. “I thought Rena was the one who liked that stuff.”

Veronica let out an exasperated sigh. “That’s one section of botany, you goof,” she quipped. “And yes, while she does have a better eye for medicine than me, flowers aren’t the only plants where you can get medicine from, or the only interesting kind.”

“Okay…well, she said your hometown was named after trees, right? Shouldn’t you guys already know all there is to know about plants?”

“I wish,” Veronica snorted. “Now that I think about it, there was this one lady from L'Académie who came to visit when we were younger, and she had me and half the village under her spell with some of the things she lectured us about. If I remember right, she said there are some plants that can face the harshest climates but still grow and thrive—and if tiny things persevering their whole lives in the face of whatever comes their way isn’t inspiring, I don’t know what is!”

“Hmhm, so you’re trying to learn about plants that are just as lively as you, huh?” Sylvando asked.

“Yep!” Veronica said, nodding cheerfully.

“Sure you’re not just trying to figure out a way to force yourself to grow taller than you actually are?” Erik joked.

Veronica glared at him. “Alright then, assuming you’ve even cracked one open in the last decade, how about you tell us what kind of book you’d want?”

“Och, I’d love to hear this one,” Rab said eagerly.

Erik hadn’t been affected by Veronica’s retort, but Rab’s comment gave him a nervous prod. “Uh, do they have any books on ancient treasure?”

“Oh no, darling, that’s too easy for you,” Sylvando pointed out. “If we’re going to hold everyone to the same standards of specificity, then you’ve got to think outside the treasure box for your answer.”

Veronica and Rab affirmed Sylvando’s declaration with a “Yeah!” and an “Aye,” and Erik sighed as he scratched behind his neck. Silly conversations like these weren’t exactly his forte, but now that he’d been a part of this one for so long it’d be weird for him to shy away all of a sudden.

Thinking back, one of the things the Vikings had him learn was how to read, surprisingly—though none of his boneheaded keepers could be bothered to do it themselves. Instead, they managed to convince one of Sniflheim’s scholars to drop by the hideout every now and then to tutor him and Mia and a couple others when they were young. He didn’t remember having a bad experience when he was learning, though applying it was a different story—every time a book mysteriously appeared in the hideout, Erik was the one forced to read it out loud to satisfy the curiosities of the Vikings who couldn’t, and that could stretch one exhaustingly long hour into what felt like three, enough that he ended up nearly hating the things by the time he’d ran away. He’d barely opened any books ever since, but after hearing Serena rave about the dozens of storybooks she’d read and being put on the spot by everyone else now, he wished he had an easy answer at hand.

Erik let his gaze waver down to the campfire as he wracked his brain. There was enough wood to keep it going for the next couple hours or so, and smoke from the fire drifted from underneath the pot of curry to rise upwards. His eyes fixed on a waft of smoke and followed it as it disappeared over the ridge…to the indigo haze of the early evening sky.

Clouds stretching across the stars obscured pockets of them here and there, but he could still make out a few of the major constellations he had picked up over his travels. Mercury’s flighty kite, the four limbs of the Bear, and Orochi’s ridiculously long neck…those had been invaluable in helping him know where he was wandering around those first couple years as a fledgling bandit…and even when he was bent on keeping his past buried, he could still look at them and not feel so terrible—if that was even possible back then.

It felt odd, thinking about telling someone other than Serena about his fondness for the stars. Mia would always rag on him whenever he said anything having to do with them back in the day, and he’d always been paranoid about how badly he’d be pegged as a weirdo if anyone back in his thieving days knew, but nobody in the party was nearly that much of a jerk. “How about a book on the stars?” Erik asked tentatively.

“Astronomy, eh? Interesting…” Rab said, his perplexed look matched by Veronica’s. “Never would’ve pegged ye for someone who’d take a liking to that.”

In a weird way, his companions’ confusion gave Erik a prideful satisfaction. He shrugged. “Well, if you don’t have a map, how else are you going to get around?”

“You darlings do know that you need more things than a compass to safely sail the high seas, right?” Sylvando chimed in. “Any sailor taking a liking to what keeps them on the right course checks out to me.”

“Are you kidding? Look at him, he’s like a kid struck dumb by the things! It looks like he can barely keep himself from grinning!” Veronica teased, a mischievous smile stretching across her face.

Her jeers keyed Erik into the upward curl of his lips, and despite the prodding embarrassment, Erik couldn’t bring himself to drop it. “Yeah, I guess I probably am,” he admitted.

Veronica began to laugh then, drawing Sylvando’s ire. “Come on, Ronnie, there’s no need to poke fun at anyone for the stuff they enjoy.”

“Aye, that’s right,” Rab agreed. “We’re all fine with everyone in our little band liking what they like—as long as it isn’t too profane,” he added.

“…got it! I got…”

The distant sound of Serena’s raised voice drifted towards Erik’s ears, and he turned it its direction to find her hopping in place with Jade further down the pond. If he looked closely he could see Jade applauding Serena, and guessing from how down they’d been when they came back to the inn from their excursion last night, it seemed like she finally figured out that defense-piercing strike she’d shown him a couple days ago.

Seeing that, Erik’s grin grew on it’s own—but his satisfaction wavered as Serena and Jade froze up as a nearby pair of monsters took notice of them, then take off down the beaten path towards the campsite. He tensed as a corpse corporal gave chase, but the undead monster gave up after the distance quickly widened between it and the girls, and Erik breathed a relieved sigh afterwards.

“Hey! Earth to Erik!” Veronica snapped, drawing his attention to her scrutinizing gaze. “What in the world are you suddenly starstruck for?”

Whether or not she knew what her quip implied, Erik felt a twinge of nervousness. “Sorry. Rena and Jade were cheering about something, but it looked like they were gonna get mobbed by a couple monsters for a second there,” he explained, gesturing at them as they passed by. Jade seemed to take notice with a glance before continuing to speak to Serena as they continued on.

The others turned in their seats to watch as Serena and Jade stopped under the space between two slim trees a few yards away from the campsite, then faced each other as they continued to talk. Erik was sure they shared the same mild surprise as he did—both Serena and Jade seemed unnerved by everything having to do with that crazy haunted mural earlier in the day, and yet it looked as if they weren’t tired at all, even with the single bowl of curry they each had eaten before getting started.

“Our two green girls sure are sticking it out with those spears, aren’t they?” Sylvando observed.

“Aye, they certainly are,” Rab agreed, a proud smile stretching underneath his thick mustache. “The princess’s work ethic already puts my shoddy training routine to shame, but Serena—the lass putting as much effort into it as she does is certainly something. Isn’t that right, Veronica?”

Rab’s question hung in the air for a few seconds, until Veronica sighed audibly. “It’s nice, I guess.” Instead of looking at her sister with everyone else, she sullenly stared down into the campfire. Her eyes were glazed over, seemingly full of… Bitterness? Frustration? Regret? Hard to tell, but it definitely wasn’t anything Erik had ever seen from Veronica before.

He wasn’t the only one to notice, and Sylvando asked, “What’s wrong, Ronnie? Aren’t you happy about your sister pushing herself so much?”

Veronica exhaled again—this one not as loud, but her expression only seemed to grow uneasy. “No, I am. It might seem surprising to you guys, but Serena gets like this, sometimes, when she really wants to learn something.”

“You’ve never buckled down for that before?” Erik asked, perplexed. “Headstrong as you are, you should be pretty good at it.”

“Ugh, I wish,” Veronica groaned, her voice rising. “You think _I’m_ stubborn about things? Try talking to Serena whenever she’s trying to hammer something into her brain. Yggdrasil’s sake, have you ever _seen_ her try to learn how to play a song on her lyre? She can sit in the same spot for hours trying to play a single melody in a song right—and if she isn’t getting it, good luck convincing her it’s not the end of the world whenever you need her to do something else! Meanwhile, I can’t even get myself to learn anything other than the one song I know how to play on the flute now!”

“Jings, calm down, lassie,” Rab said gently. “Folks take after things differently than other people. It’s nothing to get yerself all worked up about.”

Veronica shook her head rapidly, her braids swishing from the frustration behind it. “Yes, I know that, but that’s not the problem! I can learn just about any magic spell you give me, but tell me to try learning anything else that takes any effort and I can barely keep going after a few days!” She swept a hand behind her. “But Serena, she’s out here, trying to learn how to do one single thing even out in the rain without complaining—and she still thinks she’s the one who can’t do anything by herself!”

“Uh, I’m confused,” Erik said. “Is this about your sister learning things, or you?”

Veronica shot him a look, but it was much more halfhearted than usual. “Come _on_, you can’t tell me she’s never told _you_ about how much of a burden she thinks she is.”

She was right on the money, and Erik was taken aback at how easily she guessed it. “Yeah, she has, but I didn’t know this was something that affected you this much.”

“Of course it does, you moron! She’s always thinking that she’s the weaker one because she makes a bunch of silly mistakes or needs to be kept on track sometimes or because she can’t learn magic as fast as me, but that doesn’t mean she can’t learn that or anything else better than I can!”

“Um, okay,” Sylvando began after a few moments, “I might be reading this wrong here, and this is probably going to be a tough question for you to answer…but Veronica, are you jealous of your sister?”

Veronica’s expression gained an edge of guilt. “Yes, I am, a little, but…I just don’t understand how she can still feel like this. I don’t understand how she can think that me being better at casting magic means that I’m better at everything else! I can’t do _everything!_” she cried, swinging her arms wide as if stuck with an unsolvable problem.

The fervor of Veronica’s words hung over the campfire for a few seconds. Unlike the handful of times she had asserted it to Serena when she picked her sister from her stumbles in the early legs of the journey, this time it almost sounded like a cry for help.

“Well, Veronica, have ye ever tried telling Serena about this?” Rab asked.

“I have,” Veronica breathed, her voice heavy with remorse. “Our parents have too, a few times when we were younger, but…I don’t know what happened, but they just gave up, eventually. I don’t know what it is, but she just never seems to have any confidence in herself without having to look up to me, and it just never seems to stick in her head.”

“But Serena’s looked up to you all her life, hasn’t she?” Sylvando asked. “Everyone needs something or someone to look up to, so they can hope that they can grow in their own way. Some people need that more than others—so for you, Veronica, your sister probably looks up to you so she knows she has a chance of being just as confident someday.”

“I know,” Veronica sighed. Her eyes fell back towards the campfire as they seemed to drift somewhere far away. “I’m trying so hard to be that person for her, but I wish she could stop looking up at me so much, so she could see herself better.” She shrugged, the nonchalance standing out from the reverence of her words. “So what if she can’t pick up on things as fast as me? What she does learn, she _knows_—better than almost anyone else—and if she realized that, she could do so much more than I ever could.”

Veronica sniffled once, then fell silent. In the wake of her words, the only thing Erik could hear was the crackling of the campfire, the tinkling of Eleven’s hammer as he finished up his latest creation, the distant voice of Jade as she described her next technique. After a long while, the silence around the campfire seemed to grow strained. Once Veronica had gotten that deep into her emotions, Erik knew it’d be best for him to keep quiet, so that the guys who could handle touchy subjects like these could do their thing—but uncertainty was visible on both Sylv’s and Rab’s faces, looking away as they tried to find the right words.

And it wasn’t like Erik had the answers, either. He understood how she felt as an older sibling, but not this particular situation. He knew Mia looked up to him back then, but other than relying on him to get things done for the both of them, it probably wasn’t much—especially with how willing she always was to try and do things on her own regardless of how stupid it sounded.

In the relative quiet, Serena’s voice seemed to ring in Erik’s head, and he lifted his gaze to where she trained with Jade on the rise straight a good ways ahead of him. It looked like they were in the middle of those serious drills they’d practiced so much in that long stretch on the _Stallion_, standing in front of each other with their spears at the ready. But when he looked closer as Jade raised her lightning lance, then slowly guided it towards Serena as she tilted to the side, he could see the mutual satisfaction on both their faces. Jade’s was that of a teacher proud of her student’s learning, while Serena’s…there was a serious edge to it, but hers looked as if she was doing all she could to hold back her enthusiasm before she ruined both their concentrations—and a newly-remembered kernel of warmth seemed to sprout within Erik.

“Veronica…” he began softly, “I think that might be the point of why she’s been learning how to use spears.”

Erik could feel Sylv’s and Rab’s gazes on him almost immediately, but it took a few more moments for Veronica to perk up. “Really?” she asked, her disbelief both audible and visible.

“Yeah,” Erik nodded. “Remember what happened at Zwaardsrust a month ago? I don’t know if Rena ever told you this, but not long after you left her in your room, she found me outside and asked if I could teach her how to protect herself on her own.” Veronica frowned at him a little, and his neck began to itch at that, and what he would say next. “I told her I didn’t really know if I could teach her how to fight like I could—and I know we’d all be worried to see her running around with a knife outside of a kitchen—but I did tell her that I had to be stronger, for myself. She probably would’ve asked me again later like you said, but pretty soon after Jade joined up after wiping the floor with me at Octagonia, she went right up to her and asked if she could teach her how to use spears. I don’t think she would’ve done that if she didn’t take what I told her to heart.”

Rab let out a light chuckle. “Sorry about that one, laddie,” he said.

“It’s cool,” Erik replied, the humor not lost on him. He shrugged as he looked back at Veronica. “So, I don’t know. I don’t think you have to worry about your sister not being able to see herself better, ‘cause as far as I can tell, this is probably the first step of her doing just that.”

Veronica seemed to stare blankly at Erik as she processed his words. After some time, her eyes glazed over again—and then she smiled wanly, quite possibly the most genuine display of thanks she had ever directed towards him. “That’s…good. I’m glad.” She sniffed again, her cheeks tinging a slight pink, before raising a hand to her eyes. “Erik…thanks for getting your butt kicked.”

Her comment didn’t sting with the “thanks” that came before, but once Rab and Sylvando began to snicker, Erik let out a disappointed puff. “Yeah, okay,” he said wearily.

“Oh, look at you, Erik dearie, picking up tough ‘ol Ronnie when she’s down!” Sylvando said cheerily, his spirits rising now that things weren’t as delicate. “Who would’ve thought this would happen a month ago, cheering her up like she was his own sister?”

“Okay, can we not go there?” Erik said. The comparison of Veronica to Mia was something that had crossed his mind more than a few times in the past couple weeks thanks to Serena—and even if it seemed like an impossibility, he was didn’t want to think about the shenanigans that would happen if those two managed to meet…

Rab sighed, his gaze drifting to Serena and Jade as they continued to train. “Ye know, the princess is probably just as glad that she’s got someone to pass her stuff to. Not just that, but being around ye folk as well. I’m sure ye lads’ll be hard pressed to get it out of her, but Jade absolutely loves having a group of people to belong to. Being royalty, getting her bairnhood upended, trekking around with this auld man most of her life…she never really had a chance to get close to anyone else for a fair wee while now.”

“Well,” Sylvando beamed, “even if she’s not willing to show it, I’m sure she’ll be over the moon to know we love having her around just as much as she does us. Right, darlings?”

“Aye, that’s right,” Rab agreed.

“Mmhmm,” Veronica added, her voice returning a little to normal.

“Yeah…” Erik idly agreed, his own voice growing distant. There was that word again, “love.” Up until recently, love had always been a fuzzy thing to him—he and the people around him used it all the time, so he knew what it meant…but it had never felt like he understood what it _meant_. Once Zazie had pegged Serena as his girlfriend, that had gotten his mind working, and he’d guessed she had assumed they had that sentimental stuff he barely had a clue about happening between them—but he wasn’t at all sure if that was the kind of connection they had.

Serena’s explanation from the day before echoed in his head: _“But really, love is that affection you feel for things that’s deeper than just simply liking—things that you truly enjoy, enough that you would always want to hold onto them.”_ Erik figured he had understood the first part—but once she had pointed out the second part, the entire idea seemed to take on an entirely different meaning. Love, something that he had written off as a feeling that never in a million years could’ve applied to a crappy life like his…except, as it turned out, he had experienced it before, just without knowing it.

Still experiencing, if he thought about it. He definitely had some things he didn’t want to let go, though it wasn’t a big list.

Mia had to be at the top of it. If he didn’t have her antics keeping him on his toes, didn’t have anyone to tease and laugh and squabble with, didn’t have anyone to care for back in those long, cold, grisly days…Erik knew he wouldn’t have made it. Even if he was only left with the memories of her, he still loved his sister.

An excited squeal from Sylvando disrupted Erik’s thinking, and he looked up to see Eleven having returned to the campfire, standing appreciatively behind Sylv as he beamed over his newly-forged dragontail whip. Rab asked if El could have another go at strengthening his rune staff leaning against the log he sat on, and the Luminary nodded towards Erik to let his grandfather know he was finally going to get on that sword breaker recipe he promised he was going to make the day before, the slowpoke. Erik shot him a look to get the message across as he topped off his bowl of curry again, and Eleven gave him another of his knowing smirks before heading back to the forge. Rab complained about family needing to take priority over friends that drew a chuckle and shrug from Erik, before the old king’s attention was drawn to Veronica loudly prodding Sylv about when _he_ was going to teach _her_ how to use a new kind of weapon.

Erik knew he didn’t just love Mia, though. He loved…this. A pretty typical, but companionable exchange between the party, an oddball group that had come together under crazy circumstances and ended up becoming a group of true-blue buddies. Though he still had his reservations about some stuff, he could let loose without having to fear being met with sneers and contempt, an unexpectedly welcome relief from his times running around with other thieves. Derk was someone he could call partner and friend back then, sure, but with all the other jerks around them—people you’d have to worry about flaking off to save their own skin or stabbing you in the back if they could get ahead—it was hard to get comfy with anyone else with that niggling suspicion.

That didn’t mean that hanging around with everyone in the party was perfect…but even with everyone’s quirks, Erik found it impossible to see himself writing anyone off. Rab, as annoying as it was whenever his jolliness went over the edge into childishness—and his weird tastes—was probably the closest thing the gang had to a father figure with how many things he knew with his age. Jade was…well, still as intense and mystifying to him as ever, but sensible—and plus, it was always amusing whenever Serena or Veronica or some random happening would bring that less hardened side of her out. He still needed another rematch, though who knows if he’d ever be ready for that. And while Sylv’s constant energy brought Erik no end of exhaustion, he couldn’t deny that it did work at lifting his spirits more than a few times, not to mention he probably had the sharpest wit in the entire party.

Veronica…parallels to Mia aside, even if she was a little brat who took almost every other sentence to sling an insult his way, or assert how strong she was at this or that, or make some stupid complaint about something, that was just who she was—and she had a good heart. He wasn’t sure if he agreed with how she treated Serena sometimes, but he knew she had done a better job at being an older sibling that he had ever been so far.

Eleven. The Luminary of Legend, his partner, the glue holding the party together…and apparently the key to being forgiven, according to that quack Seer. Enigmatic stuff aside, he had the steeliest determination of them all for helping people and getting the job done—one that was borderline uncanny with how he needed to explore every out-of-the-way nook and cranny and get things even Erik wouldn’t bother with. Everyone else called him inscrutable, which Erik couldn’t deny at times, but he thought he understood El, at least a little—especially since he was the first person he’d ever trust his back to when things got dicey.

He’d quieted down from his odd bursts of speaking even more from back when they were getting chased around Heliodor—but given how much craziness had centered around him since then, Erik figured he would be just as shaken if he were in his shoes. He wished Eleven would speak up more, so he could get to know him better, though. Maybe in another lifetime.

And finally, there was Serena. Erik looked back up at her still training with Jade, and though her smile had mostly disappeared behind a focused expression as they continued with whatever they were working on next, Erik felt that warmth in his chest all the same. He definitely owed her for helping him work through his tangled emotions, but…what he'd just felt seemed to stem from something entirely different.

Which was funny how that turned out, since out of everyone else in the party, Serena had to be the biggest oddball of them all. She had seemed so soft-spoken and sensitive and gullible in those first few days, pretty much a little sabrecub you’d have to keep your eyes on before they wandered off and drag you into trouble…which she basically still was now. But she also struck a weird balance of softhearted caring and whimsical goofiness that was just endearing and amusing enough for Erik to not mind watching, since it never seemed to grow tiresome. Surprisingly enough, there was an edge under all that softness too—once she had him figured out a little, it turned out she could be almost as sassy as her sister without being too much, though that might just be because of her pushing him not to be as much of a downer at times. Not to mention, she was pretty determined to get stronger for herself—and Goddess knows, that was something Erik had known pretty well, even if it was for a different reason.

She’d been in good hands all her life with Veronica, and looking at how inseparable they were, it was probably going to stay that way forever. But as much as Erik didn’t know how well Serena’s sister would take well to it—probably not much at all—with all she had done for him so far and how much she’d “very much enjoyed” their times together, Erik felt like he should be there for Serena just as much.

As surreal as it felt to be asking himself this, especially with how mushy the idea had seemed before, Erik couldn’t help but wonder—did he love Serena?

When that affection grew in his chest, just a little—Erik knew he had his answer. 

It wasn’t exactly how he’d expected it to turn out to be, but… Yeah, he did. Every time he saw that happiness on her face, he couldn’t help but feel that warmth in turn, and he never wanted to let that feeling go again.

But…even as Erik arrived at that thought, there were still probably going to be some snags. They would be around each other until they reached Yggdrasil, then helped Eleven get rid of the darkness, whenever that would be—but once that was said and done, he didn’t know what would happen then. He couldn’t be sure about what Serena would do with how offhand her sister had been about them having a business, but it was probably a safe bet that she would want to go back home when everything was over. As far as Erik knew, he didn’t have a home—his place was on the road, and even if Eleven managed to work a miracle for him to get Mia back, he didn’t see them staying in one place for long afterwards. Turning to gold wouldn’t change her craving to go on a treasure hunt, and Erik was more than willing to give it to her, since there were some sights he wanted her to see. He’d probably be able to convince Serena to come along as well, but given what had happened to Veronica, he didn’t think the tiny mage would be up for another globetrotting journey so soon after another.

As if responding to his thoughts, Veronica’s voice jolted Erik to awareness as she started kicking up a fuss again, this time about how she was motivated to learn how to learn how to use whips on her own. He’d forgotten how long it’d been since anyone had mentioned it, but apparently she’d been just as tall as him or her sister before whatever happened in the crypt near Hotto—but at this point it was hard to imagine, Veronica even half as long as the weapons she wanted to use. Him and Serena, two people with siblings who ended up in less-than-fortunate situations…what a weird comparison.

Well, they would probably work something out, Erik figured. He looked back up at the night sky. Even if gaining forgiveness didn’t involve getting Mia back…he knew he’d be pretty fine with having Serena for a sister.


	18. Amour Mal Interprété

Erik lazily leaned back against one of L'Académie’s walls as he let his body settle down, Serena and Sylv’s conversation with Madame Croque near the refectory door a pleasant background noise as he pondered all the traveling the party had done today. With how much ground they’d stuffed into the morning and afternoon—just about every single community the party had visited across Erdrea in their adventure so far—Erik was having second thoughts about how being able to hurl themselves around the world in the blink of an eye made traveling too convenient. Once Eleven had gotten that inquisitive look at spotting another one of those perplexing magic key doors scattered around the world the day before, Erik had been looking forward to working his nose for treasure at what the party did today: Zooming around on one big looting extravaganza as they checked off the location of every single red door the Luminary had lodged in his head.

Though, as peachy as that might’ve made the day seem to be, it wasn’t entirely without any gloominess, especially since El’s memories of those doors stretched back long before his journey had even begun. 

When the party had landed from their first Zoom in the middle of a dirt path near the top of a grassy hill, a pair of leftover cannons sitting further ahead as it sloped down into a valley, everyone knew they needed to keep quiet. The first stop of the day had been Cobblestone, Eleven’s childhood home that’d been torched by the Heliodorians, after he’d stumbled into their clutches unaware right before his fated encounter with Erik in the dungeons. Erik had thought he’d practically turned into a mournful ghost the first time they were there, blankly stumbling from ruined building to building then tree to river and back and talking to people that weren’t there, which had weirded the heck out of Erik until he’d explained what time-crossing strangeness had happened.

This time, Eleven had come with another purpose in mind, one that didn’t have anything to do with any treasure. He stood at the top of the hill taking in the view of his home for a little while, then slowly made his way down, craning his head this way and that with a faraway look as he walked among what was left of the hamlet. Erik and the others kept behind him as he followed the cobbled pathway at the bottom across a stream, then up another slope to the ruins of his own home. Despite the collapsed stones of the walls scattered around what used to be its interior, the front door and one of the beds managed to stay intact. Eleven turned towards Erik then, smiling softly as he pulled out the magic key and directed them to the east.

They left El there as Erik followed his nose to the door at the base of the cliff by the river, and found a single chest in the cave overlooking the canyon on the other side. Nobody called dibs on the vitality-recovering armlet that was inside. When they came back to Eleven’s home, they found the door open as he sat on the bed, sadly staring down at a little blue pouch in his hand. He didn’t move for a long time.

When he finally got up, Rab broke the mournful silence by asking if he was ready to go, and El had nodded, his normal idle resolve noticeably more hardened. But, whether his grandfather or anyone else had noticed, Erik could swear he saw something in his partner’s eyes, a vengeful ember lurking underneath that steely facade just before they were lifted into the sky. 

The depressing start to the day had definitely left everyone down in a rut, but the collective jolt of surprise at landing in their next stop lifted them up pretty quick—downtown Heliodor, of all the places. For Erik, that jolt was more of a stab of astonishment as he found himself among the familiar grime and slang and shiftiness, one that quickly shifted to apprehension as his resentment from before rose to the surface. Most of the gang regarded their surroundings with a mixture of disgust and uncertainty at being recognized—especially Jade, who didn’t take well to seeing the disparities happening right under her nose when she was a princess firsthand—but with all the peculiarities and strange characters that passed through downtown every other day, a group of mismatching travelers didn’t turn many heads.

And that was something Erik was all too grateful for. The time he spent traveling around with everyone and all the thinking that came from talking to Serena about his history left him feeling like a cyclown in a tornado without a whirlwind of his own, and the last thing he wanted was for one of the resident scoundrels to notice him and act as if he’d come back looking for another scheme. All that bitter anger he’d been harboring about the place began to roil the moment he touched down, and Erik had been on edge the entire time, afraid of how he’d react if someone asked what he was doing back.

Fortunately, the only person who did notice him was Ruby, doing her morning tidying outside her inn, and she was about as clean as anyone could be down in the gutter. Serena and Veronica fell into a short conversation that didn’t get far past what life was like in downtown Heliodor, so Erik could hover nearby without saying much while the others checked hut with the red door further down the thoroughfare.

Most of the other stops they’d made weren’t too eventful outside getting noticed by a handful of people in Gallopolis and Gondolia, plus getting things for the pantry so that the party would have more to eat than seafood for the next bout of sailing—though seeing Serena make a ravenous beeline for the cake shop in the latter was as hilarious as ever, and Erik did come away from Puerto Valor with an awesome earring-shaped knife that let his arms strike quicker than a speeding falcon. But just before, when the party had Zoomed the rest of the way to Zwaardsrust after a brief sail to the Insula Australis, his nose for treasure wasn’t needed when the Rainbough started glowing close to the underground ruins.

They found the Purple Orb covered in dust along with a bunch of other long-lost relics from the Kingdom of Flowers…including an unfamiliar necklace that gave off a long-forgotten ominous aura. Despite the unpleasant reminder and the obviously inauspicious look of the skull on the pendant, Erik made sure to stress to everyone that nobody should get any crazy ideas and try wearing the thing, his eyes lingering on Serena during his spiel longer than he intended to.

Erik still wasn’t sure if he should tell Serena about what he had done to Mia. It was the last thing he needed to get everything completely off his chest, but he still couldn’t figure how she would take it if he he did fess up to her—and he didn’t want to think about how bad it would get if she did react poorly. Considering where the party’s next destination was, though—the Crystal Kingdom of Sniflheim, his home at least in the sense of being the place where he grew up—she was bound to catch an inkling of what had happened somehow.

Even if his visits to the city were scattered between tagging along with the Vikings as they indulged themselves every week or venturing out on his own, and even if he had been away for five long years, there was practically no chance of him making it through without being recognized. Would one of the Sniflheimers remember him simply because of his familiar face, or because he’d lived under the Vikings? What if Eleven’s impulsive wanderlust took him to their hideout, and one of his old keepers recognized him then? What if Serena or anyone else caught a mention of the Vikings and started asking questions? Would he be just as on edge at being back in Sniflheim as he was in Heliodor earlier today?

With so many things up in the air, it seemed as if it would be the best for both of them if she heard the truth from his mouth. But now that Erik had come to terms of how he felt about things, he dreaded the idea of Serena knowing how easily what he had done to Mia—or could’ve done, if she were even still around to understand—he could do the same to her, too.

Erik looked up from his brooding and watched Serena’s sidelong grin as she cheerily described what she knew about preparing meats to the jester and Académie head chef listening to her. More than anything else, he never wanted to risk seeing any hurt marring her sunny face, ever again.

He let out a resigned sigh. Well, he’d have plenty of time to think it over. As much as everyone wanted them to stay the night again—the gang and plenty of L'Académie’s students included—they were only there to get behind the school’s magic door and exchange the mini medals they’d gathered over the past few days, which Eleven and Veronica were doing now. Since they’d practically forgotten about the other exchange in Puerto Valor, Eleven came out of the headmaster’s office that first time with a rune staff and an adult-sized Académie uniform, which Jade claimed for herself. The other two they’d gotten, one from that hysterical lips that Serena took and another found today in the locked storeroom, were also adult sized; and so Veronica, not wanting to be left out of the fashion fun, planned to go right up to Mister Whiskers and demand that she get properly sized up for a uniform of her own. As close as it was to dinner, though, everyone agreed to wait the hour or so until then, so they could Zoom back to the _Stallion_ and get sailing without having to worry about what they were going to eat that evening.

Some of the unease weighing down on Erik’s mood was lifted at the thought of being back on the _Stallion_ again. Hanging out with everyone, another opportunity to play at being captain, with Serena helping him pass those long hours as they sailed through the night…Erik was looking forward to it. He just hoped he’d be able to find the courage to finally give her the full story. Though, if things turned out anywhere near as pleasant as it were in the latter half of their first interval on the sea, maybe he wouldn’t have too much trouble.

Erik smiled at the thought, his hopes finally laying his pensiveness to rest. He lifted his head to take in the rest of his surroundings, L'Académie lively in the early evening as others mingled and chattered around the foyer at the end of their classes. The voices of two students and a hammerhood at the far end by the classrooms and others on the balcony above mixed in with Serena and Sylv’s and Madame Croque’s, and if Erik looked past the wooden pillar in front of him, he could spot an elderly teacher quietly speaking to a kisser at the table to the left of the headmaster’s office.

After some time, though, the pleasant peal of conversation was interrupted by a familiar, slightly grating voice coming Erik’s way. “Hey, Spiky!”

Erik turned to his right to find Zazie approaching from further down the hall, stepping with the same springiness from that second morning. When her signature smirk became clearer as she got closer, he noticed that it was slightly tighter than usual—and that she was also carrying an envelope.

“Oh, hey. Another request?” Erik asked jokingly, moving away from the wall to meet her halfway.

The tightness in Zazie’s expression disappeared as she shook her head. “Nope. A message for you, from one of my girls. Tried tellin’ her about the situation, but errr—some stuff came up, and she changed her mind. Started to insist that it reaches you, so…” Her look gained a sympathetic furtiveness as she held the envelope out to him. “Here, take it.”

Erik raised a curious eyebrow as he accepted the envelope. “Uh, thanks?” he said, unsure if he should be suspicious or flattered.

Zazie chuckled, though he couldn’t tell if it was out of mischief or not. “Yup. Catch ya later,” she said, and quickly began back the way she came.

Erik watched the crimson-uniformed girl go for the handful of seconds it took for her to reach the stairs, then looked down at what he’d received. It was a completely ordinary, unadorned envelope, without the fancy decorations he’d seen on a few lying around the headmaster’s office. So, it probably had to be from a student, like Zazie said—which Erik couldn’t help but find perplexing, what with how much he’d figured he was the absolute last person any girl at this school would specifically want to talk to.

“Oho, has the esteemed L'Académie opened its doors to another lucky boy of our little band?” Sylvando chimed. Erik glanced over his shoulder to see his companion approaching with an eager look.

“I doubt it,” Erik snorted, feeling Sylv’s nosiness behind him as he flipped open the envelope. The paper inside seemed to be the same as the kind in Eleven’s mini medal stamp book: about the size of his hand, made of noticeably high quality parchment, with the same intricate borders on the outer edges of the front side. Written in the middle with immaculately neat handwriting were seven lines:

_I’m searching for you.  
When others look upon you, they see rabble, inelegance, a wolf to be left alone. To be feared.  
But that isn’t you. I know your pain. I can glimpse the real you.  
When people look upon me, they match me to another. They think we share the same heart.  
But the real me doesn’t conform to these bounds.  
I want to show this to you.  
I want to meet you, and I want you to meet me.  
~ C ~_

As he finished reading, Erik’s perplexity at the seemingly complete lack of sense from the short message gave way to bafflement, leaving him at a loss for words for a moment. “What the heck did I just read?” he questioned, both to himself and Sylvando behind him.

When Sylv didn’t respond for a couple seconds, Erik looked over his shoulder to find his companion closely examining the letter in his hand—until he let out a surprised breath, his eyes widening in realization. “Honey, that’s no acceptance letter—” Sylvando began, “that’s a love letter!”

“Wait, what?” Erik blurted, looking back at the paper with his own surprise. “Who here would be crazy enough to send me one of—”

_“Excuse me!?”_

Erik’s pulse skipped as Serena’s sharp voice cut through his sentence. One second she was behind them, and then in another she was right beside Erik, eyes scrunched and mouth curled with a fury he never thought he’d ever see from her. “Let me see that,” Serena snapped, snatching the paper out of his hand before he could object and walking out of his reach.

Her frowning eyes slid across the paper seven times, her look progressively twisting with each line. “I can’t believe this!” she exclaimed, holding the paper at a distance as she scrutinized it. “Who in their right mind would send such a poorly-written love letter like this!? The affection is worded so vaguely! Following a bland opening with such a patronizing second line—who could be so blind to liken your sweetness to a wolf? The sheer nerve of this person—acting as if they know you like _they_ were the one spending quality time with you over the past month! For heaven’s sake, who would—” She paused to release a furious groan, color rising in her cheeks as she glanced up at Erik, then back at the paper. “I’m sure it was that Cléo girl, wasn’t it!? When I see her again, I’ll—”

Serena abruptly breathed in as she faltered, the storm of her anger passing as she seemed to remember where she was. Without her feverish rant filling the air, the main room of L'Académie had fallen completely silent, and no doubt she felt the gazes of everyone in the foyer on them, just as Erik did. Serena’s face steadily fell into mortification, but she didn’t take her eyes off the paper.

Erik’s astonishment at Serena’s initial outburst had kept him frozen the entire time, but his confusion quickly shifted to apprehension as her near-surreal tangent continued, then a prickling nervousness as she mentioned him. He couldn’t put together why something as silly as this letter would get her this heated, nor could he shake the foreboding when he asked, “Rena, what are you so angry about?”

His question caused Serena’s eyes to widen for a moment, and she let out a trembling breath. She lowered the letter and met Erik’s eyes once, then immediately averted hers, something in his look making her shy away. “I…I’m ever so sorry,” she breathed, taking a step back. Serena’s eyes glazed over, and she raised a shaky hand to her chest. “I think I might have…realized that I’ve been…feeling…_wrong_…about some things…”

She spoke as if she could barely believe the words that were escaping her mouth, and Erik couldn’t understand her meaning, either. “Rena, what are you talking about?” Erik asked uneasily. A pit began to grow in his stomach, and he took a step forward to match hers. “Feeling wrong about what?”

Serena didn’t reply, dropping the letter and taking another step back instead. She sniffed once as her eyes glistened even more, and she raised both hands to her face as she began to cry. The hole in Erik’s chest began to widen, and an anxious fuzziness—the same he’d thought he’d rid himself of little more than a week ago—came to fill it. His head began to spin with dozens of questions, and he didn’t know what he could say next.

“Erik, what in the world is going on?” Sylvando asked worriedly from behind him. “What’d you do to make Rena so upset?”

His companion’s voice reminded Erik they weren't alone, and he whirled around to meet Sylvando’s troubled expression. “I didn’t do anything!” Erik said, his voice frantic and defensive.

“Well, I don’t mean to be rude, but people don’t get this flustered unless either someone’s done something very nasty to them, or there’s been a big misunderstanding somewhere,” Sylvando pointed out. “And for something delicate like love, it’s pretty easy for feelings to get hurt if one side knows they aren’t getting the same amount of effort they’ve been putting in from the other.”

“I don’t know what I did, I swear!” Erik replied. His pulse raced as he scrambled to think of an answer to Sylv’s question. “I haven’t done a single thing to hurt Rena! How the heck could I know some silly love letter would get her this worked up if it wasn’t written by her!? I didn’t even know she felt—”

Erik’s breath caught in his throat, the realization crashing into him like a tidal wave. This wasn’t an unfamiliar situation to him, not anymore.

The stories she raved about so much, the nights they spent together on the _Stallion_, her explanation two days ago—everything fell into place.

Serena had been _in love_ with _him_, all this time. And he’d been too ignorant to realize it.

Erik’s anxious fluttering intensified as his prickling nerves began to spread. Slowly, he turned back to face Serena. She hadn’t moved an inch, visibly trembling as she kept sobbing into her hands. He had no doubts of her answer to his next question, yet he voiced it all the same. “Rena, you…love me?” Erik asked, leaving the _“like this?”_ unsaid.

For a few moments, Serena’s response was merely more sniffling. Eventually, she lowered her hands, her cheeks red and wet from the tears leaking behind her closed eyes. “Yes,” she answered, her voice a tremulous squeak. She opened her glassy eyes to meet his, staring at him with a pleading expectancy. “Do…do you…love me, too?”

“I—” Erik immediately cut himself off. He could say yes. He _wanted_ to say yes. If he said yes, they could probably sweep her furious outburst and everything else under the rug as an unfortunate misunderstanding. Except that would be a lie. He loved Serena, sure, but—as terrible and selfish as it sounded—it was only as a surrogate sibling, a fondness that had grown out of enjoying her company for so long, not the theatrically sentimental and seemingly blind romantic spectacles she loved so much.

But she had told him that was something that could grow out of enjoying enough time together, just the same, right? Could Erik see himself loving Serena like that? He wanted to imagine it, but now, with all the uncertainty in his head, and her eyes staring straight at him desperately begging for an answer, he wasn’t sure.

And plus, Erik had promised himself that he would be completely honest with her. “I…” he began, “Yeah, I do, but…I don’t know if we’re thinking about the same thing…”

That wasn’t the answer Serena was looking for, though. More tears began to well up in her stricken eyes as she looked away again, and Erik could only feel a prod of that same sorrow. His ears caught the low creak of a door, but he could barely process it—all his focus was stuck on Serena’s face, and his gaze wandered over each wrinkle as if they had the words to make things better.

But when Erik reached that desire, a thought occurred to him, and he found himself wondering how long this had been an issue, and why it was even one in the first place—especially when the solution seemed to be so simple. “Rena, if you loved me, why didn’t you just say something?” he asked.

Serena gasped again, her eyes widening. A torrent of emotions flowed across her face in the space of a second—astonishment, irritation, regret—before falling into a sad, confused disappointment. “I…I thought—I’m not—I…” she stammered.

“You what?” Erik asked. Anticipation took hold of him, and his mind cycled through numerous possible reasons as she tried to answer.

“I…I…” Her cheeks blushed even redder as her eyes wavered. An unsteady hand drifted up to her chest again. “I—I—I—”

Erik’s heart skipped a beat as Serena’s eyes flickered up to meet his again, and he felt his face contort—for a fleeting moment, he was sure he felt a scrape of that same pain he did every time he thought of Mia turning to gold.

Whatever change in his face must have been the tipping point, and Serena let out a distraught sob before turning on her heel and bolting away. She rushed down the hallway past the students still standing by the classrooms, and her frantic footsteps echoed in Erik’s ears as she bounded up the stairs.

Erik blankly stared at the corner Serena disappeared behind, his head reeling. He had a niggling urge to follow after her, but he wasn’t sure if he could move if he tried—his throat was dry, his prickling nervousness had spread throughout his entire body, and the fuzziness in his chest had swelled to the point that even speaking suddenly seemed like an impossibility. He wanted some way to even begin figuring out how he could fix things with her, but the turbulence of everything left his legs feeling paralyzed, his thoughts a tattered mess.

A loud slam from the headmaster’s office startled Erik—and a profoundly familiar, even more grating shout jolted him back to awareness. _“HEY!”_

When Erik’s eyes snapped in that direction, the first thing his thoughts voiced was an _Oh, Goddess, no._

Eleven stood in the doorway, holding a book and a thin sword with a falcon-shaped crossguard. His look was just as spooked as Erik felt at what was below and just in front of him: Veronica, her mouth twisted into a snarl, her eyes on Erik glinting with a burning, almost murderous fury. She quickly rounded on Eleven to shove her navy hat and folded uniform into his hands before stomping down the center of the foyer towards Erik. “What. The. _Hell. Did. You. Do!?”_

“I don’t know!” Erik answered, his voice wavering. “I didn’t mean to do anything!”

“Oh, _right_—because surely getting Serena to run away in terror from the person she’s hopelessly in love with is something that can be done without any sort of conscious thought!” Veronica snapped, her fiery eyes narrowing into a pair of daggers. “Why don’t you go ahead and explain to me how you _haven’t_ been stringing my sister along this entire time, so I can decide how much of you _won’t_ be burned to cinders when you’re finished!”

Even with all the emotions clashing in Erik’s chest, an indignant anger could only rise through at Veronica’s accusation. “I told you, I didn’t actually _do_ anything to Rena! Someone from this school wrote me a stupid love letter that I didn’t have a clue about, and when she heard about it she got angry and agitated and sad because she figured out I didn’t feel the same as her all on her own!” He faltered and looked away, feeling the fool for his next words. “I didn’t even know she felt so strongly about this.”

His words keyed Veronica in to the paper lying at her feet. She snatched up the letter and briefly looked it over before snapping back up to Erik. “You’re telling me you didn’t understand a _single_ thing from the _zillions_ of clues she probably gave you!?” she questioned, rapidly flapping the letter around. “The doting stares? The vague references and emphasis on anything having to do with love? All those goofy romance stories she knows!?”

“I swear to you, Veronica, I didn’t know what any of it meant!” Erik said, feeling an unbidden pang of disappointment. His shoulders slumped as his willingness to keep arguing quickly slipped away, and he weakly shook his head. “I barely even had a clue of what love even _meant_ until a couple days ago…”

Disbelief flashed through Veronica’s anger for a moment. “How much of an idiot do you think I am for me to believe that!? _Everyone_ knows what love is! You’d have to be living in a cave playing with sticks your whole life to not be able to realize when someone’s pining after you! I can’t believe—” She cut herself off with a harsh-sounding groan as her anger reached a climax, then spat, “I don’t have time for this.” The tiny mage clenched her hands, the letter in one alighting before flaring into a fireball—and Erik barely had time to react before she slung it right at him.

Erik cried out as her fireball burst in his face, the sheer unexpectedness of it causing him to stumble and fall backwards onto the floor. Veronica hollered a worried “Sereeenaaaaaa!” and he could feel the quick vibrations of her footsteps recede as she followed the same path her sister took just a minute ago.

Despite her sweltering fury, Veronica’s fireball only singed Erik’s face as moderately as a simple Frizz, a burn he’d become more than used to by then. He stared up at the flower symbols engraved in the wooden ceiling, the glare from a nearby hanging lantern blurring his vision. Not as if he could even care, at that point—if he’d known what was going to happen five minutes ago, he would have forced himself to stare at the sun so his eyes could be dazzled, just to avoid having to see Serena’s stricken face.

Erik’s ears could hear Sylvando’s voice asking if he was okay, but there was no way he could properly respond. The outside of his body itched all over, inside felt as if he was completely bogged down by his nerves…and lurking under that, another familiar feeling, that same curdling anger and guilt he harbored for anything having to do with his past self. It was the absolute last thing he’d wanted to feel right then, but thinking about everything that had just happened, how all his hopes seemed to be torn apart with the pieces scattered by the wind—now that it was back, he couldn’t do anything but let it churn.

After a few moments, Erik caught a flicker of movement in the corner of his eye. He began to crane his neck to the left, expecting to see Eleven approaching, but he stopped mid-tilt when the visible top of the balcony to see Zazie and four other girls—Helen, Lynette, Mindy, and another with a neat navy bob cut—staring down right at him. The faces of the former four were frozen in varying degrees of shock, but when Erik met the eyes of Zazie, he saw her mouth a panicky “Oh, bugger,” before fleeing down the balcony from his gaze. The rest of her gang quickly followed suit—all except the girl with the navy hair.

Her gaze remained locked on Erik for a long moment after her friends bolted, her half-lidded eyes knowing, almost pitying. Eventually, her expression fell with a visible guilt, and she slowly backed away from the railing before following in the wake of her friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sure plenty of you saw this coming a mile away as soon as you were greeted with the ridiculous length of L'Académie's initial chapters compared to everything else up to that point, but in case you haven't: check Erik's party chat there in Act III.


	19. Soirée pour les sentiments de Serena

Serena ran. And as she did, a single thought repeated in her mind ceaselessly:

_It wasn’t supposed to happen like this._

She barely felt her legs working under her, whisking her down the hall past the Académie students, around the corner, and up the stairs to the second floor.

_It wasn’t supposed to happen like this._

Her legs carried her past Zazie and her shocked companions standing at the railing. When she could hear Veronica and Erik’s raised voices below her as she raced down the balcony, her tiny pulse of worry was immediately quashed, too distraught to even think about them.

_It _wasn’t_ supposed to happen like _this.

Her heart hammered against her chest as she veered into the dormitories. Her first thought was to hide in the unoccupied rooms she had stayed in during their first visit—then she saw the confused surprise on another student’s face—nearly the exact same as his—and her mind discarded the idea.

_It wasn’t supposed to happen like this!_

More tears began to well up in Serena’s eyes, and she felt them slip away from her face as she ran. She rushed through the hallway, turned right down the stairs, barreled into the refectory, nearly caught herself on one of the chairs as she rushed through, and shoved open the door outside.

Stepping out to the shaded heat of the sun setting behind L'Académie, Serena came to a stop. She briefly considered where she would go next, but when her ears heard distant voices from her left and nothing but the ambience of the evening to her right, her body made the choice for her. Using what remained of her feverishness, her legs slowly guided her towards the swing under the oak tree, the same one she’d tried—and shied away from—telling Erik about her feelings for him three days ago.

_It wasn’t supposed to happen like this…_

Her energy gave out in those last few steps, and it was all Serena could do to turn and sit down atop the swing instead of collapsing onto her knees in the earth before it. She hung her head, letting her tears freely drip from her face. Without that restlessness driving her, the haze masking her feelings had dissolved along with it, revealing an agitated tangle of sorrow, fear, and shame within her heart—and, surrounding all of it, a cold, hollow disappointment.

She’d tried so hard. She’d given him the most easily-discernible hints she could think of. She’d shown him the most tender, the most affectionate parts of herself, parts that she’d rarely let Veronica see. She told him the most grand and emotional and heart-wrenching stories to evoke the depths of her love for him. It was all working, she told herself, giving her so much gleeful anticipation for the moment when he’d come to terms with his own feelings… When his face would soften with the realization that he felt the same love as her, and he’d look at her with those wonderful sky-blue eyes of his and smile, and they’d come together in a snug embrace as they consummated the moment with a kiss…

Serena had been smoldering with her feelings for so long that she’d believed she could become a sort of transcendent conductor, that she could orchestrate everything falling into place for that single moment naturally. But in her plodding, meticulous hope, she’d overlooked the solution that could’ve given her what she wanted—even if it wasn’t what she was looking for. And when Erik told it to her minutes ago, all her feelings had already burst from her in such a horrid way, making her feel like an utter fool.

As her emotions twisted and tightened around her heart, Serena wondered what she should feel the most, or what she even _wanted_ to feel. There was so much uncertainty surrounding the entire affair, and each element seemed to demand a different response. She stared straight down at the ground as she cried, but in her mind’s eye, in the moment when everything became to much to bear, she could see that pain etched within Erik’s eyes again. She’d _seen_ it before, countless times: first, when he’d broken down at Dundrasil, then at Lonalulu, after that sometimes when he spoke of his resentment about his past—but every time, without fail, she could see that pain when he spoke of his regrets for his sister.

Serena had known then. Erik’s love for her wasn’t the same she held for him—instead, it was the fondness a sibling had for their family, a way for him to hold on to what he had lost. She could have taken relief in knowing that she had succeeded in some way, but that wasn’t the love she was looking for—a love that, while instinctive and unwavering, could be at times resigned and begrudging. She wanted a heartfelt romance, the love that came and swept her off her feet, gripping her with its fervor, never letting go and energizing both her and Erik until the end of their days…

But that wasn’t what he had wanted—and now that Serena knew, it felt as if her chances to share that love for him had dropped to almost nothing. Knowing that, of all the emotions she held for Erik then, Serena was stricken to find one of them to be anger—a curdling resentment that threatened to twist everything within her into a vengeful frustration. She could see herself stomping right back into L'Académie and unleashing all that balled-up bitterness upon him, just like her sister was doing now: how blind he had to be for not realizing how much she loved him, how much it hurt that he never returned the same devotion she had for him—the uncertainty she’d long-harbored over whether he’d ever lied to her or not.

But Erik had never intentionally lied to her, had he? In all their time together since their visit to Nautica, she’d never felt any suspicions about him ever being untruthful to her. Even in idle conversations, he’d never held back anything to her about what specific qualities he liked or disliked about Veronica or their other companions, or the places they visited, or how immoral some of his past escapades could get.

And yet…when Serena considered how fraught he’d been over her or anyone else knowing about his childhood, how he reflexively tried to hide any hints of his sister from her at Gallopolis and Dundrasil, and that unease she could still sense from him surrounding how his sister passed away—suddenly, the possibility that he could have slipped a lie into some of his stories became tangible.

But that didn’t make sense, either! If Erik loved her as much as he did Mia, then he would have always been completely honest with her, wouldn’t he? Even during that pivotal moment minutes ago, when she could glimpse how much her distress pained him and how badly he wanted to fix things, he could have simply lied to her and said he did love her in the same way. Instead, he’d immediately came forward with the truth—just like he did when he asked why she didn’t simply tell him she loved him.

Knowing that, there wasn’t any way Serena could fault him for anything he had done—but that was a problem, too! Erik had done absolutely nothing in an attempt to hurt her, yet she hurt all the same. It felt as if everything had gone horribly wrong, as if _she_ had been wronged—and that simply rounded back into making everything she had worked for feel worthless all over again.

It was confusing. Everything surrounding their relationship was too confusing, and the multitude of factors together were a disorienting spiral within her mind—her feelings, Erik’s feelings, where she could have gone wrong, what she would even do at that point. All her agitated emotions rose and fell with each other in a contest for superiority; and as they wrestled within her, Serena continued to sob as she languished in her foolishness. She didn’t know how long it took, but her reservoir of tears eventually dried up as her agitation settled, and in the aftermath all she was left with was that cold, hollowed-out disappointment.

After directing her focus inward for so long, the ambience of her surroundings began to wash over Serena’s senses, as if she was finally waking up from a long dream. The uneven prickles of sunlight from the trees on her back, the intermingling of floral smells, and the press of her hands against the silk of her dress were things she all expected—but the eager voices drifting towards her felt out of place.

Serena lifted her gaze to the outdoor classroom on the opposite side of the Académie grounds, surprise poking through her disappointment at what was occurring. A group of five girls—the Médamoiselles Magnifiques, recognizing the rather haughty humans and slime from her last visit—stood in a line with plenty of space between them, as if perfecting their medal retrieval as usual. Instead of practicing how to collect mini medals with the straight-haired teenager Patricia at their head, their attention was focused upon Jade speaking as she stood between the foremost tables.

Jade continued to talk as she slowly raised a bent knee angled upward before her, and Serena realized the warrior princess was teaching the students how to perform her signature snapping roundhouse kick in a deliberate manner, similar to how she’d been teaching Serena how to wield spears. Jade extended her lower leg out and held it there for a few seconds before lowering it to the ground. As she finished, she looked to her left at Rab sitting at one of the tables with Miss de Beauvoir as the old king of Dundrasil added something, then nodded as she turned back towards the Médamoiselles.

The warrior princess spoke again, and each student fell into their own imitations of a battle stance before attempting to copy Jade as best they could, though only Goolia and the teenager with curled hair were able to aim their strikes nearly as high as their teacher could. Jade paused and looked them over as she did with Serena many times before, before demonstrating a lower-aimed version of the kick they could all reasonably perform without difficulty. Satisfied, she let them practice as their own pace as she stepped down the row, fixing each Médamoiselle’s individual faults.

She reached Patricia third in line within a couple of minutes without finding any difficulties with her, and even as far away they were from Serena with the shadow of the school over them, she could see the approval in Jade’s expression as she nodded at the Médamoiselles’ leader. Then, Jade’s eyes widened, as if noticing something out of place behind Patricia—and Serena’s heart skipped when she realized Jade was looking right at her.

As unnerved as Serena was then, feeling her friend’s seemingly prying eyes upon her seemed to fixate all her senses on her in turn, and she tore her eyes away from the warrior princess to hide her resurfacing shame. But Serena’s ears still remained honed in, and she could hear her Jade’s voice ask Rab to take over with teaching so she could see what was wrong as if she were little more than a few feet away.

Thirty achingly long seconds later, Serena could hear Jade’s footsteps on the packed earth as she approached, then a few seconds later could see her heeled boots on the ground at the edge of her vision. “Serena, what’s wrong?” Jade asked.

Serena didn’t need to look up to know the worry in her voice was visible in her expression. Even then, Serena’s mortification tightened around her once more, and something within herself implored her to simply run away again—run away, and when Jade or another of her companions eventually found her and asked what was wrong, she would hide everything that had happened under a facade of oblivious awkwardness.

And yet, that was the same urge she had helped Erik overcome, wasn’t it?

“I…” Serena began, her voice shaky, “…it’s Erik, and…me.” She paused to sniff, feeling as if she had more tears to cry, but there were none left. “We’ve…I…I’ve been simply smitten with him for some time now…I don’t know if you or any of our companions ever noticed, but…over the past few weeks, we’ve spent so much time on our own together, talking so long into the night on the ship while you and the others were asleep. We’ve enjoyed each other’s company so much and grown so close to each other through that…almost enough that I would call it love.”

Denial panged within Serena, and she paused to shake her head. “No, that’s not right—Erik’s never really one to show much of himself to everyone until recently, but even still I _know_ it has to be love. But…just recently, I discovered that it wasn’t the same kind of love that I did for him, and I—I simply couldn’t believe it.”

The words flowed out of Serena slowly, but by then the fear holding back her confessions cracked and widened, eventually becoming an outpouring. “Ever since our first visit to Gondolia, I had known something was wrong with him, that he had been hiding away something about his past that was eating at him—and when he fled in fear from the campfire that evening after you and Rab joined with us at Dundrasil, that was the result. Then at Lonalulu, when you and Veronica and Eleven went away with Kai for a while, he found me and apologized and explained to me why he had been so scared, then he agreed to let me help him. Then, I convinced him to loosen up at another dance demonstration the Lonalulans held, and then…after that, when we were both tired, he got so sad when he told me the truth about what was paining him, and then he cried and cried and cried, and it was all so touching that I’ve loved him ever since.

“Over that first week on the ship, when we were sailing to all those islands, he told me about his past life—he’d been so terrified of opening up to anyone because he’d never had any sort of confidant in his life before—but after that, when he’d gotten most of his worries and doubts and fears out of himself, we started to talk about happier things, and tell each other stories. My life wasn’t nearly as eventful as his, so most of the things I told him were what I remembered from my favorite childhood romances—_A Ripple on the Sea of Love_; _Sky, Ocean, and Earth_; _Two Souls and His Heart_; _Hand of the Heavenly Bride_; and even your favorite, Jade, _Love’s Lost Refrain_.

“I wasn’t sure if this was when he started loving me in return, even if he didn’t realize it himself—but even if it wasn’t I just _had_ to be sure. I poured so much of myself into making sure he would know how much I loved him, so that when he eventually did realize he loved me, it’d be at just the right moment where we could confess to each other at the same time, and everything would come together just like they would in so many of those stories. Just two days ago, I’d realized that he didn’t know what love truly meant, despite describing how it felt to himself, so I explained it to him, and I was so certain that was the last step in making things fall into place.

“But…just a few minutes ago, things _did_ fall into place, and we _did_ confess to each other…and it wasn’t anything like a romance at all.” Serena paused to sniff once more. “One of the students gave him a love letter, and when I heard about it, I grew so jealous and angry—I’d never even believed myself capable of being that furious, but I did—and then he asked me what was wrong, and then he realized how much I loved him but he didn’t love me as much, and when I asked he told me that, and then he asked me why I didn’t just tell him that I loved him, and then…I ran away.

“I’m not even certain why I did—I was so embarrassed and terrified about how angry I had gotten, but now, I can’t be sure. Back when I had first learned about his sorrow after we had escaped from Gondolia, he told me to promise him that I’d never tell anyone about it—and I still haven’t, even to Veronica when she asked. I’d thought that he didn’t want anyone to know that we had spent so much time together since our relationship had been tied to his insecurities, but…”

Serena paused again, feeling a pricking echo of that same distress before she fled. “…knowing that he wasn’t even aware he loved me in the first place, I’m not sure if I was scared for him or if…if I was scared of this all along, scared of things not happening like I had dreamed them to be. But, now that things have happened like this, both Erik and Veronica seeing me react so terribly, I…” She trailed off in place of finishing her divulgence, unsure of so many things. Serena hoped that she would feel something by the end, as consolation for letting out all of her feelings—but by then, her disappointment had spread and stifled all her other emotions, leaving behind nothing but a numbness.

She had never lifted her eyes from her hands atop her lap as she spoke, and Jade’s legs had lingered in the edge of her vision the entire time, only fidgeting as she took in Serena’s confessions. From what she’d told Serena in casual conversations, Jade’s circumstances left her without nearly as many feelings about love as her or Veronica, but a part of her still believed that her friend would have something to say that could cheer her up, like she did so many times when she faltered while training.

But after a few long seconds of silence, Jade simply released a worried breath. “Goodness, I wish I had something to say about this, but if Veronica was there when all that happened, I can’t help thinking about how Erik’s going to come out of things…” 

There were no hints of uncertainty in her friend’s voice—and a jolt of surprise at knowing exactly what that meant brought Serena’s gaze right up to Jade’s. “You knew?” Serena asked with disbelief.

Jade was momentarily taken aback by her insistence. “Well, I’ve always had a feeling that something was happening between you two ever since that first night at Dundrasil, since you got up to chase after him almost as quickly as he left.” Her eyes apprehensively flickered to the Académie. “On the other hand, Veronica has had _a lot_ to say to me about you and Erik together since then—and her feelings about everything have had quite a few ups and downs, even after we made landfall in the region.”

Something between a nervous laugh and a quavering breath escaped from Serena’s mouth at how apparent it was. Of course Veronica would have known, and no doubt her sister would have said more than a few things about them to Jade whenever she was absent from whatever room they were sharing. Despite her humor, she couldn’t dispel her self-consciousness when she asked, “Does…does anyone else know?”

“I’m fairly certain,” Jade confirmed. “Eleven hasn’t shown any signs, but he’s too shrewd about most things to not know something’s happening between you and his partner. Sylvando’s never particularly taken that much of a liking to a single person himself, but he caught on to you fairly quickly after Lonalulu, and Rab’s old enough to have seen love grown between people who knows how many times. Last I’d checked, they’d even gotten into a bet over which one of you would come out and tell everyone first.”

Serena couldn’t help a pained gasp as her friend finished. She spoke kindly, but plainly, yet as Jade continued her embarrassment could only tighten at how painfully clear her affections had seemed to the rest of their companions. “It was that obvious, wasn’t it?” Serena asked, unsure of who she was addressing. She hung her head again. “I’m such a fool.”

“Serena, you’re not a fool,” Jade consoled. “I don’t even think you need to be this sad—if this was just a big misunderstanding, couldn’t you simply fix things with Erik by going back to him and talking it over?”

“I—I wish I could, Jade, but I just _can’t_,” Serena answered, becoming agitated all over again. “Everything I had worked for, it had been for _that moment_, and everything that would come after, when he would find out he loved me just as much.” She clenched her hands in her lap, scrunching the folds of her dress. “But now that it’s passed in such an awful way, with such a crucial misunderstanding, and what Veronica will do to him now…that moment will never come again.” The finality of her words must have been the tipping point of her reservoir, and she let out a single sob as her eyes welled up once more.

Jade was unresponsive for a few moments before releasing a weary sigh. Her legs finally moved from the edge of Serena’s vision as she stepped to her right, and Serena felt the slight trembling of her seat as her friend gripped the rope of the swing. After a long, tearful silence, Jade said, firmly but softly, “Serena.”

She perked right up through her sobbing, responding to the same tone Jade used for teaching and rousing her from sleep. “Yes?” Serena asked.

“Look at the landscape in front of you.” Jade told her, scanning their surroundings. “What do you see?”

Serena removed her gaze from Jade to the sight of the evening Académie landscape behind her. As her eyes cleared up, she took in the meticulous uniformity of the circular gardens, the green broken up by the white of the sage bushes and the red of the anemones and the blue of the cornflowers. She took in the idly swaying birch trees, and the gentle curves of the crags towering behind them, and the violet sky fanning out above everything. “I see…I see the diligently cultivated grounds of the Académie.”

Jade nodded. “Yes, the grounds are cultivated very well, indeed…almost enough that one would consider them close to being perfect. What does that tell you about the people who tend to them?”

“That…that they take a lot of time and effort to make sure everything about the garden is as pristine as they possibly can.”

Another nod from Jade. “That’s right. And, given what I’ve heard from Miss de Beauvoir and the other teachers, they put in no small amount of effort themselves to make certain every aspect of life for these girls runs smoothly.” Jade’s attention shifted to directly in front of them. “Now, look at the girls over there, on the other side of the grounds. What are they doing?”

Serena followed Jade’s direction to the outdoor classroom, where the Médamoiselles continued to practice the roundhouse kick she’d shown them a few minutes earlier, now under Rab’s supervision. The old master’s teaching prowess seemed even more effective than the warrior princess’s despite his stout frame—by then all five girls were able to execute the kick with little trouble, and they had seemingly moved on to trying to perfect it with the same diligence they practiced in their medal retrieval routines.

“They’re practicing the roundhouse kick you showed them,” Serena answered, uncertain.

A low giggle escaped Jade’s mouth. “Yes, they certainly are—but look closely, and listen in. What are they all doing, together?”

Serena focused on the girls, hearing the liveliness lingering in the chatter of the usually composed girls, punctuated by the occasional laugh as they compared each other’s efforts. “They’re enjoying themselves, as friends.”

“Mmhmm. And out of all those girls, who’s the one that’s most obviously out of place, and why?”

Serena’s eyes shifted to the slime at the leftmost end of the line, springing high and swinging the gooey mass of her body around to match the kick of her friends. “It’s Goolia…because she’s a monster, living amidst a score of humans without any sort of hostility towards them.”

Jade nodded again, this one more solemn. “That’s right. In a messy world, where most humans and monsters would attack each other on sight, this school is a place that, no matter who you are or where you come from, as long as you’re willing to accept everyone else, they’ll give you a place to fit in and call home.” She looked back at Serena with a hint of a smile. “Alright then, Serena. Think about your answers to all the questions I’ve given you. Imagine you’re a normal girl, learning about L'Académie for the first time, and all you’ve heard is what we’ve discussed. What would that tell you about this place?

“That…” Serena paused for a few moments, straining to tie her wayward thoughts together through her sadness. “…that L'Académie is a place I’d want to go. That no matter who I was, I could find some place to fit in and find friends. That it’s a place where everything is made to be as close to perfect as anything could possibly be. That—”

Serena faltered as a memory came to her unbidden—that first day the party visited when Jade wandered around the school in a trance—and she recognized the intent behind her friend’s questions. “That if I went to this school, I’d find it so wonderful that I’d never want to leave,” she finished. “But…this isn’t about me. This is how you feel about L'Académie, isn’t it?”

“It is indeed,” Jade affirmed, taking her eyes from Serena to survey their surroundings once more. “L'Académie de Notre Maître des Médailles…almost everything the younger me could have ever possibly dreamed of wanting. Goodness gracious, if I’d managed to convince my father to enroll me here when I was younger, I’d have probably asked the headmaster to let me teach so I could stay longer than the seven years students go through before they graduate.”

She breathed out a low, reverent sigh, before turning back to Serena, her look turning sympathetic. “But, this isn’t just about me, and how enthralled I am with how idyllic this school seems. It’s about you, and how perfect you think love should be.”

Her friend spoke kindly—and yet, as disheartened as Serena was, she couldn’t help but take it as an accusation. She sheepishly averted her gaze, reminded of all the times Veronica and her parents had pointed this out about her. “You think I should let go of my hopelessly romantic ideals, don’t you?”

“No, no, no, Serena, that’s not it at all,” Jade replied, taken aback. “Believe me, I know how hard it is to let go of that idealism, especially if you’ve never had to contend with the contrary before.” She sighed again, her look going distant. “Let me tell you a story, Serena. When I was younger, and still living as a princess, I almost never had to worry about anything. If I got hungry, there was always something in the pantry or the chef in the kitchen for me to ask for something to eat. If I got sick, we had royal clerics on hand for any injuries me or my father or the royal guard might have. If I ever got sad, one of the maids around the castle or Queen Citrine—I mean, my mother—would always drop whatever what they were doing if they could to come cheer me up.

“Even after she passed away, Lady Eleanor was the same, and then some—she was always willing to do all of those things for me, whenever I visited Dundrasil with Hendrik and our ambassadors every now and then. I wasn’t much more than a frivolous little girl those days, wandering around the castles to find what entertainment I could with people and filling my head with fairy tales and romances when I was on my own, completely ignorant of anything happening in the outside world.”

Jade paused, and her grip around the swing’s rope tightened as her words became somber. “But then, after the attack on Dundrasil, and being found by Rab, then traveling with him to Heliodor, just to find out my father had fallen under Mordegon’s spell…all that was suddenly snatched away from me. We went from eating like bountiful royals to figuring out how to stretch travel rations on the road. If one of us got injured, it’d slow us down for days at a time, until Rab eventually taught himself healing magic after a couple of years. We went from being adored by everyone around us to having to hide our identities so no one would recognize us except for a select few people—so most of the time, the only people who could cheer ourselves up were each other.

“And Rab—he had to do so much of that for me. I was so depressed and frustrated and confused that first year after losing everything. Looking back, I probably caused so much trouble for him, throwing fits about every little difficulty we ran into and lamenting how things weren’t the same that they used to be. I wanted things to go back to normal so much that I threatened to leave him on his own and find my way back to Heliodor by myself on more than one occasion.”

Jade let go of the swing and stepped forward, staring at the students across the grounds. “But, as time passed, and I grew used to the rigor of things, I eventually realized—there was no going back to that life for me. As much as I wanted to hold onto that hope of things returning to that perfect little world of mine, that simply wasn’t the way things were going to be.” She smiled wistfully. “Ironically, even if things had turned out normally, I’d still have to leave that life behind—since all the trappings of royalty would require me to grow up eventually.”

For a moment, Jade’s smile wavered as her jaw quavered, but her voice remained steady. “That all still holds true today. As much as I adore L'Académie, as much as it's the place I’ve always wanted, as much as it offers me something resembling a normal life, as much as it gives me a fledgling connection to the mother I barely knew…that’s just not my destiny any longer. My place—our place—is to help Eleven reach his destiny, and though I don’t what outcome awaits me after that…one of them could be the throne, and all the weighty responsibility that comes with it. I have to be ready for it. Like Miss de Beauvoir says, I have to let go of childish things.”

Jade let out a single chuckle, before turning back to Serena. “I envy you a little, Serena. Somehow, despite everything, you’ve still managed to hold onto that childish idealism, all those hopes that something you’ve always wanted will somehow turn out to be just as perfect as you dreamed it to be.”

Her eyes turned half-lidded, both pitying and sympathetic at once. “But as much as you want things to be perfect, that’s just not how life works—and certainly something as delicate as love. In fact, most relationships with the people you’re closest with aren’t always going to be flawless—now that I’m able to take care of us both, I can’t tell you how many times Rab knowingly plays the age card to curry favor with everyone when he knows he’s in hot water, even when I’m standing right beside him. You and Veronica are practically joined at the hip, and yet things between you two aren’t always perfect either, are they?”

Serena felt a pulse of shame at the question, even if it was good-natured. “No…” she answered.

“And why would they? You and your sister are two different people, and you both have different needs, so things are inevitably going to lead to disagreement, no matter how much of an understanding you two have. But,” Jade raised a finger, “working through those misunderstandings, as troublesome they can be, and staying just as close after it is what makes your sisterhood meaningful. And no matter how much you may want otherwise with Erik, it’s only going to be the same with him—or any of our friends, or anyone else you’re close with. If you want things to be better with him, Serena, you can’t expect that things will be a perfect romance all the time. It’ll be hard, not just when you get over that expectation, and not just when you get into any other disagreements after that, but countless other times.” Her smile widened. “The good thing is, though, if you and Erik are able to stay together throughout all that, it’ll make all those fleetingly-perfect romantic moments all the more sweeter.

“So to answer your question—no, Serena. I don’t think you need to let all of those hopelessly romantic ideals go, because that’s part of what makes you, you—and Goddess knows, that kind of boundless optimism is something Erik sorely needs. You just need to let go of some of them—and accept that some things you really want might not work out exactly how you want them, okay?”

Serena silently took in the last words of Jade’s lecture, unable to take her mind off the “if” as she mentioned her and Erik. She saw no reason to object to anything—and yet, even if Jade admitted it would be difficult, trying to abandon all the hopes she had built up for Erik in favor of something different and seemingly lesser felt like a nigh-unfathomable ordeal to Serena. She’d chased after them for so long, with what felt like every fiber of her being, that it almost it almost seemed as if she would be letting go of a vital part of herself.

Not just that—Jade’s words had lifted her spirits from being completely downcast to a resignation…but that numbingly cold disappointment still lingered, along with those tangled emotions that she felt before—and Serena was frightened of taking a chance of trying to fix things, of getting her hopes up just to undergo everything all over again.

Despite herself, she nodded slowly at Jade anyway, unable to meet her eyes. “Okay…I’ll try, Jade.” That was all she could promise her friend, or herself.

Jade’s expression dampened at her reluctance, but she seemed to accept it, breathing out with relief. “Good.” She paused, and Serena could feel her eyes examining her. “Do you want to come back with me to watch while I teach the Médamoiselles, to help you take your mind off things?”

Uncertain of what else she wanted to do, Serena silently nodded again. She raised herself from the swing and met Jade’s solemn eyes, and she slowly followed behind her friend as she started towards the other side of the grounds. They took merely a few steps before Serena started as the refectory door was flung open, accompanied by a feverish “Seereeenaaaaa!”

Veronica stumbled out into the evening shadows, her entire bearing painfully fretful. She quickly craned her neck to the left as she stepped outside, but when she noticed Serena and Jade to her right, her expression melted with relief. “Oh, thank the World Tree, Serena!”

She and Jade stopped in her tracks as Veronica scampered towards them, and when she stopped in front of Serena she looked her up and down as if she’d recently awoken from being fed one of Her leaves. “Are you all right?” Veronica asked insistently, her eyes snapping to Jade before Serena could answer. “Jade, is she all right?”

“Yes, Veronica, everything’s fine.” Jade assured her, smiling softly. “We just had a good long chat about what happened, and I think she understands how things have gone wrong now.”

Veronica heaved a sigh. “Yggdrasil’s boughs, you don’t know how much of a relief it is to know that she ran into you. After Erik got what he deserved, I’d been running around this stupid school for who knows how how long searching for her! I’d thought she went and hid herself away under one of the beds or something!”

“I didn’t expect to find her out here,” Jade said. “I was on the other side of the grounds showing some students how to perform some martial arts with Rab when I saw her sitting over here, all alone.” Her look grew apprehensive. “But, about Erik…”

Veronica’s expression soured, and she glanced back towards the Académie. "Don’t worry, I didn’t kill him or anything, as much as I would’ve loved to right then and there. I wish I did hit him with something more than a little Frizz though, but it’s not like I could’ve hurt him _that_ much, since he’d done so much to convince me that much of a numbskull by then…” She let out a resigned sigh. “I guess that’s what I deserve, getting fooled into thinking that he might’ve been right for Serena.”

Serena’s pulse wavered at her sister’s words, but she remained silent. Jade said, “Oh, come on, Veronica, if you thought that, I’m sure they’ll be able to patch things up with each other somehow.” She turned towards her. “Right, Serena?”

Veronica’s gaze returned to Serena. Her sister’s expression softened, but her eyes narrowed slightly, like they always did whenever she knew something was wrong, but Serena didn’t want to admit it. “I…I hope so,” she said, unsure if she even believed it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> one of Jade's party talk lines for L'Académie has her likening the schooling of the girls there to her own childhood studies of learning how to put a boot through a brick wall, which immediately imparted into my brain the image of her teaching the students how to perform martial arts and has never left since. Now you can, too!


	20. Uncertain Serker Recollection

_“Alright, prælow, it’s your turn, get in here!” Ingvar’s voice echoed from further in the den._

_Erik breathed out a weary sigh, shoving down his resentment at the use of his diminutive label. He took one last look at the tattered, age-worn flag spread out on the crumbling brick wall before him—the white-on-red bones of a hydra’s long neck curling around a sword—before turning and carefully stepping around what was left of the sleeping quarters as he exited. As his already soaked feet stepped into the half-flooded hall of the abandoned pirate’s den, Erik steeled himself from his brief respite before starting down the hall._

_Another successful raid, another chance for Erik to scrounge around the leftovers from what the other berserkers claimed from the spoils. Most of the others waited wherever the Chief decided the clan would pool the loot together so they could stake their claims and squabble whenever someone picked something another serker had their eyes on, but everyone was careful to not start any infighting, before they drew the Chief’s wrath._

_Of course, that never really mattered to Erik. Not just because he was usually forced to sell off what little treasure he got in Sniflheim to make ends meet, but also because of his rung in the clan. Even though the Chief and the other serkers knew that he could scrap against the monsters they wreaked havoc on with the best of them—without ever needing to embrace that twisted side of theirs—they still treated him like a prælow, just like any of the other slaves under their boots. That was probably his lot for not embracing the Viking life—as old as Erik was, he could probably be a regular old sundur like Lief or Frida or the other women, but if he didn’t even want to live in the same cave as them, why would they treat him like a normal clansman?_

_So, instead of obnoxiously mucking around while the spoils were piled up or prowling the battlefield for any leftover loot or monsters they might’ve missed, Erik took the aftermath of every raid as a chance to explore. He always found it interesting to wonder what was or could’ve been in whatever far-flung locales their raids took them to, before something or someone—the Vikings themselves in the past, sometimes—came and ravaged it._

_Though it was common knowledge that trying to live anywhere in the northeastern reaches of the world was asking to end up as an icicle, the ruins dotted around showed that some were hardy enough to make it work. Considering that so few of them were the remains of human-made homes—instead mostly bizzare white domes with a bunch of pictures of abnormal faces, some with enormous smiles and others with huge noses in place of mouths—Erik had a hard time believing that any humans actually lived up there. The further east you went though, the more pleasant the climate, and the more ruins you could find; as well as some oddities, like an enormous, impenetrable tower to the north of Yggdrasil._

_With nobody home for so long, most of them became breeding grounds for monsters, which added to the spoils that were already in ruins, since…whatever the heck happened whenever a monster turned to dust sometimes left behind treasure chests. But while most locales ended up with scattered pockets of roaming monsters like around Sniflheim and the Snærfelt, a few of them ended up as fully-fledged homes for some monster families. A few months back Erik was there when they’d smoked out a flock of drackies living in a cave on the coast far to the north of the Hekswood, a year before they’d ravaged a band of bodkins living in what was left of a hamlet as if they were actual humans—and long before any of those, when Erik and Mia were still tiny after being found by the Vikings, they’d caught a glimpse of a whole kingdom of slimes on the northeastern edge of Erdrea._

_They’d been way too young to know how crappy their lives would get after that, enough that it’d convince Erik to try and have them eke out some part of their lives separate from their keepers. But if Erik knew he’d eventually flake off from the clan after what had happened to them on that expedition, he would’ve figured a way out for them even earlier._

_Erik pushed the memory away, focusing on the present as he trudged down the the damp and decrepit halls of the pirate’s den. Apparently this used to be the home turf of the undisputed ruler of this part of the ocean, a pirate king named Lozami—though there was plenty of bickering between the serkers over how feminine the name seemingly sounded over the trip there. Back when the Vikings were getting their foothold as they ravaged fledgling settlement after settlement on the northern coasts, Lozami’s band of pirate crews was the only thing keeping the clan from complete dominance. But trying to keep Viking serkers from what they wanted was like trying to stop an avalanche once it had gotten rolling, and after feuding with them for years, Chief Eldar’s father eventually triumphed over the pirates and sent them scattering them across the rest of the world. Now that Lozami’s den had been left to rot and infestation over the past dozen years, the Chief had decided it was time to finally see what could be found in the remains._

_When Erik turned right at the next fork down the den’s main hallway, he reflexively braced himself as he saw one of the serkers exiting the ruler’s room at the end—but relaxed just a little when he recognized the generally hearty and red-bandana-wearing Baldur; and his older, but much thinner and red-haired brother Bror beside him. Both carried jingling sacks of loot as they came his way, and they spared little more than a passing glance as they turned the corner around him, continuing back to the longboats._

_“There you are, runt, get over here and take your pick!” Ingvar hollered at Erik. His impatient frown was visible under his giant brown mustache as he stood just inside the door to Lozami’s room._

_“Coming,” Erik said, resignation eking out in his voice as he complied._

_Ingvar kept his eyes on Erik as he made his way down the hall and into the pirate king’s study, a small rectangular room that had managed to avoid most of the crumbling walls and rotting wooden frames throughout most of the den, save the worn shelves of books and knick-knacks lining the left and right walls. A wide desk took up the center of the room, where a pile of gold and treasure nearly reaching up to Erik’s shoulders had rested the last time he passed through—though now that the other serkers had taken their picks of the spoils, there was barely enough left to fill a single knapsack._

_And instead of a pirate king at the table, Lozami’s chair was occupied by Chief Eldar himself. His horned helmet was off his head and sitting to one side of the table, putting the gray streaks in his brown hair on full display. The Chief lifted his gaze from the worn papers and maps from the king’s journal in his hand, seemingly about to say something to Erik, until Østen called, “Sæll, Erik, tell me what this flotsam is!”_

_Erik looked to the left of the room at the serker, his usual half-drunken grin fanning out the black beard framing the lower half of his face. Østen held up a knick-knack from one of the shelves, a labeled glass jar with a skull sitting inside. Erik squinted to read the label. “It says ‘crow skull.’”_

_Østen’s grin immediately soured. “Nice try—I can see that it’s a raven’s skull, runt! You trying to pull my beard now that I’m in a good mood?”_

_“No, I’m serious,” Erik said defensively, yet already growing sick of being back in his keepers’ presence. “It’s a skull from a stark raven, sure, but the writing says ‘crow’ on it.”_

_“It says ‘crow skull,’” Haukur spoke up from the opposite side of the room. The newest serker, a lean man with a scraggly brown beard, stood near the far wall from Erik, looking away from Østen to the grim-looking purple helmet with yellow horns in his hands. “As if it even matters—you don’t need to be very smart to know most use one to talk about the other.”_

_Østen glared at Haukur. “You’re calling me stupid, is that it?”_

_Haukur’s scowl deepened. “No. I’m just saying if you paid more attention instead of flooding your gullet all the time, maybe you’d be able to hold more words in your head.”_

_One of Østen’s eyes twitched, and he growled as he clenched his open fist. “Look here, whelp, don’t you—”_

_“Knock it off, you two, before I bash in both of your skulls myself,” the Chief cut in. “Save it for when we get back to the hideout.” His eyes shifted to Erik’s. “You going to stand around all day, or are you going to take your pick at the spoils?”_

_“Yes, Chief,” Erik answered. Eldar’s question reminded him of what he was particularly looking to get out of this raid’s spoils, and he stiffened as he considered his next words. “Uh, how much can I get at this time?”_

_The Chief looked down at what was left of the loot, humming thoughtfully as he considered how well Erik had done in this raid. “Eh, I’d expected there’d be more than giant sea creatures and walking piles of kelp here, but if you weren’t peeping around trapped chests for us we’d have a lot more injuries weighing us down…” Eldar pointed a finger at Erik. “As much as you can carry—but only with your bare arms. I’m sure you’ll get more use out of ‘em lugging your share back to the ship than you did here!” he said, finishing his sentence with a guffaw._

_Erik let out a hopeful breath. “Okay.” Normally, he’d be disheartened at getting such a low cut, but he wasn’t picking through the spoils for just himself this time. Though he disagreed with when his sister insisted on—the day they were found by the Vikings as they raided one of Sniflheim’s uncharted regions—and why she even wanted to celebrate in the first place—hearing that the Sniflheimers did every year and thought they deserved one too—Mia’s birthday would pass over the four day journey back. _

_The fever he’d been nursing over the past couple of weeks prior to this raid left them in a rough patch, but fortunately, Mia had been willing to pick up the slack for him with chores to make things easier. She’d even gone as far to not throw any fits and keep herself out of any trouble while he was out of it, and though Erik knew that’d probably change if he didn’t get her anything, he figured she at least deserved something. Maybe if he was lucky, his sister would take this as encouragement to keep it up for a while._

_He took a good look at what was left on the table, an assortment of decorations and trinkets scattered around middling piles of coins. The biggest thing standing out was a gold-plated jewelery box…a part of Erik wanted to think that it’d encourage her to hold onto her allowance more, but he immediately doubted the thought, so he left it. If he looked closely at some of the coins he saw that some of them weren’t money at all, instead those little metals with stars on them…but even if they were shinier than actual coins, as far as anyone knew they were completely useless, so he left those too. There was a silver ring with an engraving of a wicked-looking skull…he figured she might like the design, if it was a little tacky, but she’d always thought that silver wasn’t worth anything compared to gold, so he had to pass on that._

_Those three things were about anything worthwhile visible above the coins, and Erik started to feel down about his prospects. He took a closer look at the skull ring, and figured that she would have to be fine with just that._

_Then Erik caught a sparkle of red poking out from the gold it rested under._

_He moved aside the ring and coins and found a rusty gold necklace set with numerous red gemstones set within its links and central pendant, the worn and darkened metal making it seem a little shabby. But even with the rust, something in the rubies seemed to shine as if they’d been freshly cut—the stones in the pendant noticeably more than the others._

_Erik knew this necklace had to be the one. The rust on it made it seem as if it would fall apart within the month, but since the rubies matched pretty nicely with what she liked to wear and were joined together by Mia’s absolute favorite thing in the world, that probably wouldn’t matter. Knowing her, she’d probably like the thing so much that’d she’d hide her silly grins from him like she always did._

_Despite who he was surrounded by, Erik allowed himself a small smile at the thought. He reached out and picked up the necklace by the pendant._

_The moment he took it in his hands, Erik's heart nearly stopped as a chill immediately crept down his spine._

_Then he felt something weighing down his mind—until it quickly became overpowering. A cold, nebulous foreboding spread throughout his whole body, and for a fleeting moment he couldn’t move, couldn’t think—as if the oppressive aura surrounding him would constrict and bind him until it eventually crushed him._

_But just as quickly as it came, it was gone, and Erik found himself frozen in fear as he stared at the trinket. Did that feeling come from the pendant, or did he just imagine it? He’d had moments before where he’d been petrified at things that weren’t there, but what had happened just a moment ago—it seemed too ominous to put it off._

_Erik suddenly lurched over as a palm struck the back of his head, and Ingvar’s angry voice brought him back to awareness. “Oi, you get a vision from the Goddess herself from that shabby trinket!? We don’t have all day!”_

_Erik apologetically glanced back towards the serker as he rubbed his head. “No. Sorry.”_

_“Well, you were staring at the crimping thing as if you came down with the thermia! You going to take it, or what?”_

_Østen let out a chuckle. “Only some kind of sorry scuttlebutt would want to go with some flotsam like that—but since he’s the one holding it, I guess that’s the lot of it!”_

_Erik shot a look at Østen. “It’s not for me. It’d be for my sister, if I do decide I want it.”_

_“That other runt?” Chief Eldar laughed. “You sure you want to give that brat something over keeping it, like she won’t get any funny ideas and try to take what doesn’t belong to her after?”_

_“Yes,” Erik emphatically affirmed, his anger spiking. “Maybe if you jerks knew something about giving more than you take, she probably wouldn’t need to get any funny ideas.”_

_When he heard the scrape of wood against stone as the Viking chief abruptly raised himself from his seat, dropping the journal onto the table, Erik momentarily feared the worst from his outburst—until he saw his keeper’s twisted smile. “Alright then, you’ll be fine with taking just that from your cut of the spoils—and you’ll be lugging the rest of this back to the longboat for holding us up for so long.” Before Erik could respond, the Chief picked up an empty sack and flung it at his face—and he broke out into a loud guffaw that was echoed by Ingvar and Østen as they left the room._

_“Sæll, Chief,” Ingvar said through his laughter, “maybe you should listen to the runt and set aside something for your lady before she keelhauls you, eh?”_

_“Shut up,” the Chief petulantly replied._

_Erik groaned as he clenched his nose inside the sack, the musty smell filling his nostrils as their voices receded. He extracted his face from the bag, expecting to be alone, but he tensed up when he saw Haukur still lingering in the room—glaring right at him, goading him to respond. He knew his outburst probably meant more than a reflexive retort to the newest serker, and was probably looking for a reason to be provoked. Erik wasn’t in the mood for reopening any old wounds, though—so he simply returned his gaze, and they stared at each other as they waited for one of them to make a move._

_After a long while, Haukur grunted as he narrowed his eyes, then picked up his own sack of loot lying beside him before leaving the captain’s study without a word. Erik waited until his footsteps were just echoes before heaving a sigh, then got to work stowing away the rest of the spoils. He placed the pendant on a clear edge of the table as he started shoveling the gold coins and other trinkets into the bag—but a passing glance at the worn journal still on the table make Erik do a double take._

_The book was open to a pair of pages with drawings accompanied by writing, and one of those had a rough sketch of the exact same pendant he’d just been saddled with. Erik paused to read the description:_

__Migol Denda’s Pendant: Necklace unearthed in the ruins of Nhou Wat, came into my possession by way of plunder. Said to be a harbinger of great fortune, the wearer’s fate is bound to discovering gold at their fingertips wherever they may venture.__

_Erik looked back at the necklace, suddenly uncertain about his choice of present. His first thought was to doubt the words of some long-dead pirate, but a part of him was pretty sure he didn’t just imagine that feeling from that necklace. And plus, like the Chief had mentioned, Erik wasn’t the only one who complained how much of a money-grubber Mia was. Having a bunch of gold didn’t exactly sound like the worst thing in the world—but if that thing did end up having her find gold at every turn, who knows how bad her greedy habits would get. That was one of the absolute last things he’d ever want his sister to get out of this, even if she’d be perfectly fine with it._

_Feeling uneasy, Erik reached out to touch the pendant, but very slowly, afraid of experiencing that ominous aura again._

_When he pressed his finger to the centerpiece, nothing happened. When he picked it up, he still felt nothing, and for the half-dozen seconds he stared dumbly at the thing after._

_Erik sighed, letting out his relief and resignation. Wasn’t like there was much he could do then. The Chief and the others had already seen him stake his claim on the thing, and they’d never let him back on his word now. But, since it seemed as if he’d imagined the entire strangeness, and the fact that his sister would probably end up liking the present anyway, maybe things wouldn’t be too bad. Maybe if she got the message, things would be a bit better for them, if only for a little while._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> depending on how inquisitive you are, giving just about anything surrounding DQXI's Vikings a close inspection reveals how flimsily they were set up—but by the time you’d really notice the game's already screwing around with your emotions, so nobody really cares to check (though, considering that this _is_ Dragon Quest, I don't think most would bother in the first place, lol...) I tried though, so they're going to be a lot more based on real Vikings and how a handful of NPCs and books actually do describe them later on.
> 
> With this chapter, I have humbly made an offering to the hallowed altar of Dragon Quest pun names.


	21. Frosted Hearts in the Crystal Kingdom

Serena never came to the deck of the ship.

Feeling the abnormally colder air of Sniflheim lapping against his skin for the first time in a long time, it should have been the last thing on Erik’s mind. Even with most of the city frozen over by some ridiculously strong cold snap, that same unease he’d expected when he returned was a blur on his mind. Every spot he drifted to unveiled a new memory in his mind’s eye, some of them bittersweet from mingling around or taking care of business on his own or with Mia, others plain bitter from trundling around in the company of the Vikings. When Erik looked at the literal iced over gazes of some of the Sniflheimers—the town’s stalwart snow shoveler, the spice saleswoman on the southwestern side of the plaza, one of the castle’s more attentive guards—his heart still skipped with anxiousness at their eyes suddenly unfreezing and alighting with realization.

When things were looking up, if Erik knew the party would arrive in town with all its people turned into frozen statues—the irony of that wasn’t lost on him—he would have called it a mercy, so he could explain things to Serena with little trouble of being recognized. But after what had happened three days ago, now that Sniflheim’s hustle and bustle had ground to a halt, the fact that Serena had left him by his lonesome on the long nights of the journey there was always on his mind, endlessly repeating between his recollections.

Then again, since what he was staring at now was the same color of her usual dress, he probably should’ve expected it.

Erik sullenly looked up at the Æsteinn in the middle of Sniflheim’s plaza, the only place he could say he liked with any certainty when he was younger. The town’s centerpiece had felt the full caress of winter’s touch like everything else: stalactites of frozen fountain water dangled over its six crystalline pools, the armillary rings at the top were unmoving, and the smooth sheen of ice around glowing green sphere darkened its usual radiance.

Mulling over how much the thing had been a bright spot in his memories, Erik remembered how eager he had been to show it to Serena and telling her what he knew about it. If she were with him now, she’d probably make some playful comparison of the Æsteinn to a frosted heart, a turn of phrase about uncertain characters that popped up in her favorite stories. If anything, he could probably say he had one himself, rueful as it felt.

Erik shook his head and sighed, feeling stupid for even getting any humor from the thought. Suddenly averse to the fountain, he angled his gaze away from the Æsteinn as he slowly began circling around to the other side.

As he took his first few steps, he noticed two spots of bright orange standing out in the frozen fog near the building by the gates…one of them was the flickering tongues of a bonfire, and if he squinted at the other, he was sure he was seeing the long end of a shawl wrapped around a person. His surprise gave him a mind to take a closer look—until Serena stepped into view towards them with Eleven and Veronica and Rab. Flustered, he dropped the idea and chose to head all the way around town instead.

From what he could tell as the party made landfall, Serena was doing a decent job at dealing with the confusion between them, reacting to the city being frozen with some of her usual curiosity. No thanks to him, though. He thought that he might have to keep his distance from Serena as they sailed there, for her sake—but it seemed like she could barely stomach being around him.

The first few times their paths crossed on the ship, she was struck with that same distressed embarrassment she had when things hit a tipping point three days ago. If she was playing her lyre or reading up on her hymns or cooking with someone else, she’d immediately stop or drop whatever she was doing and scamper away. It didn’t take long for Serena to get over her skittishness enough to meet his eyes or steal a glance at him for longer than a split second when she was training or sitting around with the others, but it wasn’t with any of the cheeriness she had for him before. By now, the only thing she could spare for Erik was a sullen confusion, as if she figured even bothering to look at him was something she shouldn’t be doing.

It was like Dundrasil and Puerto Valor all over again; except this time, Erik wasn’t sure who was trying to avoid who the most. Without Serena, all he really did over the journey was keep the _Stallion_ on course, which didn’t take much effort; make sure the ship’s rigging were in good shape; sound the alarm and fight the couple times they were attacked—which he suddenly found himself enjoying—and most of all, just…brood. Not just over how unnerved he was about how he was echoing his old keepers, but about everything that’d happened between them.

Except, there wasn’t much to think about. He wasn’t sure if she was trying to hide it or not, but falling from her high spirits to those sad and confused looks, he knew. Serena probably hated him, just like Mia would, if she were still around to know how easily he had abandoned her now.

Erik’s gut twisted at the thought, and he came to a stop on the other side of the plaza. He’d arrived at it whenever he considered the chain of events, but it pained him just as much as the first time. He wasn’t even sure if it should—he had likened his relationship with Serena with his real sister, but there was an entirely different feeling to it.

With Mia, it was fluctuating and feverish—they would get heated and hostile with each other at times, and their constant squabbling could get nasty enough to leave them bruised at times, but him and his sister were so used to them that they could bounce back before long. With Serena, things were always mellow and snug, like all the hugs she’d had to give him as they worked through the roughness of his past. Sometimes she’d be frisky enough to poke fun at him or point him in a better direction, but reaching a place where one of them could hurt the other seemed so far away from how warm things were. Yet Serena staying away from him after that misunderstanding, missing all the romantic hints she had practically dangled in front of his face for so long, just to think of her as a replacement to something he could never replace—it _hurt_, so much more than any of the ill will he might’ve had with Mia before.

That tangle of guilty anger rose to the surface at the stupidness of it all, and Erik clenched his hands to keep them from shaking. It was so unfair, how the people he loved ended up hurting because of his ignorance.

His mind harked back to the moment Serena ran away from him at L'Académie, when he’d been struck with that same fear of losing his real sister—and Veronica’s furious berating that came after, interrogating how he didn’t recognize any of Serena’s love for him. He’d brooded over why on the journey here, and he found his answer: why would _he_ have any clue what love was, what with how his life had been before? Under the Vikings or when he was living as a thief, just about every time Erik showed any emotions too far away from arrogance or indifference or reservation, he’d gotten ragged on about it—if not worse. He _had_ to shove it all down, to keep what respect he got from the people around him then. Why the heck would he ever consider something so far down the sentimental hole like love as something he even _wanted_ to feel, living like he did?

And yet, now that he’d learned that he had long ago with Mia, and again with Serena, Erik found himself wishing he’d known. Even if he didn’t want to understand, he _should_ have realized that Serena had fallen for him somehow. He should have seen it coming the moment he thought of her as a sister, the only way he had known how to love—because this was the exact same thing he’d done to Mia.

Erik remembered when he’d found that _stupid_ cursed necklace on that raid, what felt like had happened both yesterday and a lifetime ago. He’d _known_ he should have dropped that pendant the moment he picked it up and felt that ominous aura. But no—even when he read that journal that told him it’d be the worse thing he could ever give to someone as greedy as Mia, he _still_ held onto it instead of taking whatever hounding that would’ve come from his keepers. And now, here he was, his sister a forgotten golden statue gathering rust in a dingy cave, frozen in a distress that’d turn into hatred if she ever got out of it—and Serena, too distressed to even have anything to do with him, because he’d been too oblivious to see how much she cared about him.

Whenever _he_ cared enough about someone to even _want_ to love them, to hold onto what good had grown between them, his ignorance would cause everything to crumble, wounding them both—yet Serena and Mia came out of things hurting more than him. They didn’t deserve that pain. Only he did.

Erik shook his head in a vain attempt to clear his head. When he opened his eyes, his gaze was drawn to the closest frozen Sniflheimer in his vision: one of the guardsmen, sword drawn and ready to fight…something. Seemed pretty stupid to want to fight a force of nature—but if this guy was like this, then this storm might’ve not been caused naturally. The layer of ice surrounding him and the other Sniflheimers was thicker than anything Erik had ever seen, enough to decolorize the purple of his uniform.

But without the Sniflheimer standard, his mind projected the next set of colors familiar to him in sequence: the blue of Heliodor’s army; and when he was a career criminal, the universal sign of a place that needed to be kept away from—unless he was about to rob it.

Erik groaned in frustration, his anger rising even higher at thoughts of his past occupation. It was all just so _stupid!_ He’d practically thrown the best people in his life away, yet he came out of things with less scars than them. Neither Serena or Mia deserved what he’d done to them. Him, who’d taken advantage of how much kindness Serena had given him, then drove her away by not giving anything back. Him, who’d indulged Mia’s worst desires and cursed her to a fate worse than death—then threw himself into what might as well be that exact same desire to forget what he’d done.

Living under the Vikings, contending with that twisted side, gold and treasure, that cursed pendant, running away and becoming a thief, all the scorns and jests and sneers he’d put up with, hurting the people he’d cared about even as he tried to do the opposite—Erik _hated_ all of it. He’d thought about everything, yet nothing seemed to be the reason why he was so furious, but he still couldn’t help being so anyway—and he hated that too.

Something seemed to lurch over within him, and all that curdling anger and guilt and regret began to roil. Erik stared daggers at the frozen statue of the soldier as if it were a Viking serker or another shifty thief. He didn’t know how easily he could fracture a person in armor encased in ice, but he figured he could make a decent dent if he swung hard enough. Maybe he’d break the wrist of his sword hand—even if he’d never been accosted by a Sniflheimer guard before, it’d be good enough payback for all the times he’d been bound by other faceless soldiers, just like this one.

He took one, vengeful step towards the solder—and his anger immediately drained from him, leaving him with nothing but that sinking guilt. He couldn’t just take things out on a helpless soldier, even if they reminded him of so many things he couldn’t stand. Nobody deserved to be hurt by his actions—not this guardsman, not his keepers, not the thieves, not even the monsters he’d been slaughtering without a second thought. No one else, just him.

The icy wind picked up for a few seconds, biting against the skin exposed by Erik’s tunic as if it needed to cool his temper down even more. He let out a weary sigh, feeling like a fool for even trying to let his anger out. Erik left the guard be, walking by and heading down the steps of the plaza to the eastern side of town.

As he passed he Sniflheimer frozen in a running stride below, he eyed the icicles jutting out right in front of the doors to the houses before him. Another memory unfurled in his mind: Mia, six or seven years ago and almost a full foot shorter than she was now, pestering the merchants and knocking on doors to beg for some money. The vendor of the decor stall next to Erik had been swayed to hand her a meager sum, and the scholarly lady who lived in the house on the right sent her away kindly—but the rich snob who lived in the house on the left had scared her away with a scathing tirade over how she needed to earn her money through her own efforts. Erik couldn’t be one to talk—and after seeing how some of the more crooked nobles in Heliodor had made their riches, he doubted anyone with that much money should be handing out moral judgement—but Goddess, did Erik wish his sister had taken that message to heart.

Then again, given who she’d been living under all her life, he figured that snooty noble had probably been talking to the wrong people about getting rich through honest efforts.

Erik scoffed at the twisted humor of it all and kept walking. After a few steps, a passing glance at a pair of statues to the left of the cobblestones jogged his memory, and he stopped to take a closer look. He wasn’t sure who he matched the pigtails under the fur hat of the woman with, but the guy on the right… Erik was pretty sure he recognized him as a grown-up Árni, one of the kids Mia used to play with. His chin was harder than Erik remembered, and maybe his eyes looked smaller in proportion to his face now, but that was just what happened when you grew five years out from your childhood not encased in gold. 

The rueful prod Erik felt was subdued this time around, diluted by the nerves weighing down in his gut. If these Sniflheimers weren’t frozen in ice for who knows how long, they’d probably be some of the first to recognize him, at least from knowing he was Mia’s brother. But what with him being such a nervous wreck then, Erik was starting to think maybe it was fortunate that the party had arrived in town with everything turned into icicles. Since the Blue Orb was somewhere in town, they’d have to thaw everything and everyone out to complete their collection, but if there was one thing Erik knew how to do, it was running and hiding from people.

He continued down the path, passing under the banister extending to the city wall and stepping around the ice spilling out between the pub and the inn He stopped when he was in front of old man Felix’s stall. Further ahead in the wintry haze, Erik could see the backs of the party’s resident spellcasters standing by the bonfire, chatting with someone who seemed to be the only person who wasn’t a frozen statue—a lady with an orange shawl and crown. She had to be Sniflheimer royalty, then—and if what little he knew about them was right, it had to be King Long Beard’s only daughter—which was pretty puzzling, considering she was only one in her kingdom weathering this freakishly cold snap.

The princess wasn’t very puzzling for long, or at least not as much as the other girl her size nearby was with how much she’d been a fixture in Erik’s mind—Serena, her hands probably clasped before her like she always had them while standing around in idle conversations.

He couldn’t help wondering how she was feeling now. He could walk closer, try to eavesdrop as best he could over the whispering icy winds, but no doubt the princess would notice Erik hanging back and point him out—and that’d just make Serena get skittish, if she didn’t hurry away again.

Erik gut twisted at the thought. Goddess, that was the absolute _last_ thing he would’ve liked then and there! He wanted nothing more than to run up to her, take her in his arms and apologize for everything he’d done, for being so blind, to assure her that everything would be okay, just like she’d done for him so many times before.

But he couldn’t. Not like he was then, and not like he’d probably continue to be, that rueful anger constantly lurking in his reach, raring to come out and ruin any good he might get out of his return. He couldn’t go back to Serena—if he did somehow manage to convince her to not hate him, he’d probably just end up screwing something up and driving her away again, and they’d be going in circles at that point. He had to stay away.

Except for some reason, that sounded just as stupid to Erik as any of his other reasonings! Deep down, _something_ was telling him that he was all wrong, that he needed to go back and try anyway. Not just because he needed to mend things with her, but because of the fact he _couldn’t_ run away anymore. A couple steps near her was Eleven, the whole reason Erik or Serena or any of the party was even there in the first place. And just as important for him, Eleven was the key to getting forgiveness—hopefully by fixing the root of it all by saving Mia from that stupid curse—and for Serena, her sacred role of helping him getting rid of the darkness. Neither of them could run away from the other, not when all their hopes and dreams hinged on helping Eleven reach his destiny. If he had even a slim chance of fixing things, he _needed_ to take it.

Erik hung his head. He knew that “something” was his love speaking, whatever it was—the feeling he’d squandered by gaining a grasp of it too late. As if it even mattered. Fraught as it was, he wasn’t sure if anyone needed any love from him anymore. He took another look at Serena and the others gathered around the bonfire, before heaving a rueful sigh. Erik turned right and headed up the southeastern steps back to the center of the plaza, stopping in front of the Æsteinn again and wishing he could look at it or anything else with the same wonderment as before.

A short minute later, Erik caught movement in the corner of his eye, and he turned to see Sylvando and Jade coming up the southwest side of the plaza, the warrior princess dressed in her dark navy L'Académie uniform over her usual getup to better keep the cold away. Erik could’ve done the same—stuffed into a thickly-wrapped bundle at the bottom of his knapsack was his old leather coat, made by one of the Viking women for northern expeditions. The last time he’d put it on was when him and Derk had found that Fun-Size Forge he’d given to Eleven, Goddess knows how long ago…but Erik definitely didn’t need any reminders of his past escapades, not now. His two companions spared him a couple worried glances, but otherwise stared at the Æsteinn like anyone else would their first time.

Nobody had said anything about Erik keeping his distance when the party gathered on the deck of the _Stallion_ again, sulky as he was now—though that was probably because he hadn’t exactly taken well to it in the first place, until a couple weeks ago. Sylv and Jade and Eleven had each come to check on him themselves a few times, but he didn’t want to drag anyone down with the funk he was in, so he sent them away with an “I’m fine” and not much else. Now that he’d probably get more on edge the longer they spent in the region, Erik figured that he needed to at least act the part if he wanted to keep anyone from asking any questions. Scratching at his neck, he stepped around the centerpiece towards his companions.

Sylvando kept his eyes on the Æsteinn, squinting as if he recognized the thing, but Jade noticed his approach and flashed a sympathetic smile. “Looks like this is about the closest thing to sunlight this city has had in quite a while, isn’t it?” she said dryly.

“Yeah,” Erik sighed. “Any idea as to what the heck might’ve happened here?”

Jade shook her head. “Not exactly. This all seems too extreme to be natural, especially since all the townspeople have been frozen in completely mundane positions.”

Erik craned his neck as he looked around the plaza again, examining all the statues a second time. All their attention seemed to be focused on one place—the Æsteinn, or something above it. “Well, since it looks like everyone was gawking at something up there, I guess whatever happened probably started here.”

“You’re right…” Jade agreed, looking around and back up at the glowing sphere. “I wonder if this intricate contraption could have anything to do with it.”

“Beats me,” Erik half-lied, feeling behind his head. In truth, he was pretty sure the Æsteinn only just spun and spun instead of screwing around with Sniflheim’s weather—but if he told them that, someone might figure how familiar he was with the place.

“I'm pretty sure I know what this is,” Sylvando chimed in, still squinting up at the sphere. “‘Ol Gismo Mecánico, the engineer I commissioned the _Stallion_ from—he has a smaller one of these. The green sphere is supposed to be Erdrea, and the rings circling around it are things far up in the sky, actually circling around it, like the sun, the moon, Erdwin’s Lantern, and some stars…I think.”

“Oh,” Erik idly replied. “Cool, I guess.”

Sylvando chuckled softly, looking back down at Erik and Jade, but he squinted again as he caught on to something past him. “I think the others might’ve found something,” he said, nodding to where Erik had seen Sniflheim’s princess and the others before. “Should we go take a look-see?”

“There’s not much else to see on the other side of town, so sure,” Erik said.

Sylvando nodded, and the three of them started towards the southern steps of the plaza. After a few steps the wind picked up again, and Jade let out a shiver. “Ugh. I’d thought training in extreme conditions before and changing clothes would help against all these abnormally frigid winds, but it seems they’ll cut against you no matter what you do.” She glanced at Erik. “How in the world do you manage with just that tunic?”

“I’ve been around this region a few times before,” Erik said after a moment’s consideration. “It sounds stupid, but after being out in the cold air outside the city for a while, you just get used to it.

* * *

Erik was deeply troubling Serena.

She lingered at the top of the steps to the log cabin behind the rest of the party, hidden from view as they listened to the stories of Snorri, a Sniflheimer scholar who had fortunately escaped the magically-caused winter storm affecting the rest of the kingdom by living here for the past four months—one month longer than Sniflheim had been frozen, and nearly just as how long Serena had been away from Arboria. Her companions were huddled together in a line between two bonfires, one sitting within a hearth on the side of the cabin and another in front of them, the heat from both staving away the frigid nighttime air of the Snærfelt.

Standing as far back on the porch as she was, she could barely glimpse the tiny sparks drifting from the foremost bonfire—and the only person in her view was Erik, sitting all the way to the left. She’d excused herself from her seat on the far right of the arrangement to check on Eleven still in her sister’s care. That should’ve been more urgent, given what had happened to him in his encounter with the witch who had brought on the cold snap, hours ago—and yet, Serena still couldn’t help sparing a worried glance for Erik, which had only lengthened into a longing stare.

She worried about everyone in the party, of course. Jade’s constant pondering made her prone to overthink things, enough that she would be too hard on herself at times. Even as sharp and well-practiced as an entertainer Sylvando was, Serena could never shake the uncertainty of him slipping up and injuring himself the more extravagant his performances got. Rab’s propensity for a good time could easily slip into overindulgence, and that could cause its own set of troubles whenever his jolliness gave way to his trickier tendencies around strangers. And as focused Eleven could be on an average day, sometimes his absentmindedness could get worse than Serena’s—going from highs of guiding the party through their obstacles as if he had journeyed across the world before to lows of deep confusion and vacant gazes in mundane situations.

But with Erik, Serena instinctively knew something was off. She had spent too much time, had learned too much about him to know something was truly wrong with him this time.

When she was sitting at the fire with her companions between them, she could look to her left and see his gaze sullenly wavering between Snorri and fire, not unlike how he used to before she had finally opened him up to everyone. He’d fallen back into those solitary habits on the journey to the region, keeping mostly to himself and staring at the horizon with looks as far away as the distance. Serena had expected that, since she was just as glum herself—not to mention, this wasn’t the first time she’d been saddened like this herself.

After their last visit to L'Académie, Serena had assured her companions that she would be okay after she’d had some time to think about things. She tried her best to keep up with her usual activities, despite her persistent embarrassment keeping her from wanting to be in the same vicinity as Erik, but her companions were mindful enough to try to check on him for Serena, even if they all seemed to think he was carrying on as normally as he did before.

Except Erik wasn’t carrying on normally—Serena’s companions just couldn’t see the signs she did. The closer they got to Sniflheim, the more he’d started to scratch at himself unprompted around their companions. Whenever she saw him staring into the distance, she could glimpse all the troubled expressions she’d seen over the past few months—all his animosity towards his past life, all the sorrow he felt for his sister. When his eyes inevitably found hers, Serena would always find them longing—then almost immediately become pained afterwards. He’d groan as his regretful eyes narrowed in frustration; or he’d close them and sigh before looking away from her, resigned to the discomfort he was dealing with. And now that party had been in the Sniflheim region for an entire day, Erik only seemed to be getting worse. All that uneasiness that’d been lingering underneath seemed to be slowly unfurling within him, and even if he could make it appear to the others that he was fine, she knew things were only getting worse.

Even now, when she was standing directly behind him, Erik had angled his face slightly to one side, her eyes on his back drawing his to hers—but he needed to hold himself back, as if he was afraid of…something. Her? Serena knew he was afraid of hurting her as he had before, but with the way he’d been looking at her now, that didn’t seem right at all.

She didn’t have to wonder, of course. Even if she didn’t know how Erik was feeling, or if he had hidden something from her, Serena knew she could go back and ask, and he’d probably tell her, and maybe they would be able to work through things. But then there would be the question of what would come after. And after that vital misinterpretation she’d had of him, Serena wasn’t sure if anything even _should_ happen afterwards.

She’d spent nearly every idle moment of the past four days thinking. She’d thought about how she’d been so fixated upon making everything with him seem so perfect. She’d thought about how she was the only one helping him with his troubles, when she was sure all their companions could be the ones to help him in some way. She’d thought about Jade’s speech to her at L'Académie, and what of her idealism she needed to let go. She’d cast her eyes over everything and known that her relationship with Erik was forever changed, and no matter how much she wanted it, things could never go back to how wholly frivolous they had been before.

After thinking about it all, Serena knew—since she had been so hopeless about the entire affair, she needed to let everything about her relationship with Erik go, if she wanted to move on.

And yet, even after she had come to that conclusion, she wasn’t sure. Every time she followed her reasoning, her worry would simply grow ever stronger. She wasn’t sure if her concern was evidence of her still wanting to cling to her childishness, or if it was too selfish of her, or if she had actually overcome her fear of him enough to lay this final problem of his to rest and safely back away again.

Serena had built her relationship with Erik almost entirely on her own. She should have been able to decide all this for herself. But no matter how much she pondered things, she simply couldn’t. And so, as much as Serena was frustrated that she couldn’t find the answers on her own, she had to go back to the only person who could be certain for her.

Reluctantly, she tugged her gaze away from Erik and turned to face the window beside her, standing on her tiptoes to peer inside. Resting under the covers of the bed on the opposite side of the cabin was Eleven, recovering from the severe drop in body temperature from the shackling spell cast upon him by Krystalinda, the witch the party needed to defeat to save Sniflheim. His expression had finally settled, but Serena found it hard to see, thanks to the efforts of Veronica sitting by him on a stool next to the bed, the light of a fire on the rightmost side of the cabin casting her shadow over the Luminary’s face.

Even after she’d been assured by Jade and Serena days ago, her sister’s fretfulness never seemed to have left her. Serena had expected Veronica to sit her down for a lecture of her own sometime as they sailed to the region, but her sister seemed to be content with her figuring things out on her own, since it had been nearly a month since their last one, what felt like so long ago.

Looking at Veronica now, Serena was unsure if her sister’s agitation was more due to her or Eleven—she’d gone from warming him up by hovering magically heated palms up and down his body to fidgeting atop her stool as she held his hand, occasionally wiping his brow with a rag on the bedframe. Either way, Serena knew this exchange was likely to be fraught because of them both—and she found herself dreading the idea of entering the cabin.

Serena lowered herself from the window. She hesitated for a few moments before turning towards the cabin door. She released a quiet, quavering breath, her heart beginning to race with nervousness, then pushed the door open, the warmth of the fires pressing against her. As Serena stepped inside, she called out, “Veronica…”

Veronica looked sharply over her shoulder, face scrunched with her own worried irritation, but it softened as she noticed Serena. “What’s the matter?” Veronica asked. “Are one of the fires going out again already?”

Serena shook her head. “No…I just wanted to come inside and check on you and Eleven for a moment,” she said.

“Well, there’s not much to check on,” Veronica said, glancing back at the Luminary. “I thought that warming someone up from nearly freezing to death would make them less sick, but now he’s come down with some stupid fever. You’d think that something called a ‘panacea’ would be useful for more than just two ailments, but nope. I’m doing fine, though, thanks for asking.”

“Oh…that’s good, I suppose, then,” Serena awkwardly affirmed.

“Not really,” Veronica said, shaking her head. Serena momentarily considered leaving right then and there—until her sister’s gaze returned to her, freezing her legs in place. Veronica narrowed her eyes. “Something else’s bothering you, isn’t there?” she asked flatly. When Serena didn’t immediately respond, she continued, “Come on, spit it out.”

Serena’s gaze flickered around the logs of the cabin as she considered her words. She shoved down her fear and tried to still her beating heart as she forced them out of herself: “It’s…Erik.”

Veronica heaved an impatient sigh. “Finally!” she cried, dropping Eleven’s hand with a flap of her arms—before making a fretful sound and quickly placing his hand back on the bed. Her impatience on full display now, she gestured at the other stool by the candlelit table and snapped, “Don’t just stand there, sit down!”

Serena flinched from her sister’s vehemence, feeling foolish for not considering how much Veronica would’ve been waiting for her to say something after so long. She remained silent as she sat down, her nerves scattering her words.

“Well?” Veronica insisted, turning in her seat towards Serena.

“I…Veronica, I’m worried about Erik,” Serena said simply.

“Okay, and I’m worried too! Everyone’s worried about Erik, and you—having a meltdown like that, when we’re all supposed to stick together! At least you’ve pulled yourself up—he couldn’t even bring himself to finish off one of those silver sabrecubs earlier! I can’t tell if he’s turning to one of those statues in the city, or if you’ve been rubbing off on him too much!”

“No—well, yes, that’s part of it,” Serena clarified, brushing off the shame of her sister’s assertion. “I don’t think you or the others have truly noticed, but something is really _wrong_ with him this time.”

Veronica crossed her arms. “In case you’ve forgotten, you’ve been the only one he’s been willing to explain himself to—so, how?”

Serena averted her gaze from her sister, her words escaping her grasp for a moment. “Well…I think he’s carrying himself around us a little better now, but as we sailed to the region, he’d fallen back to how clammed up he was before. I know we’ve all expected that, and I know I haven’t been around him much over the past three days to really tell, but…it seems as if all the fears he’d been dealing with before have resurfaced, and they were eating away at him even more the closer we got to Sniflheim.”

A thought occurred to Serena, linking to a constant source of uncertainty for her, about how Erik's sister had passed away. It seemed awful for her to even voice it, but she had to push through her hesitance. “There’s something about his past that he’s hiding from me. I don’t know if it’s a deliberate lie or simply something he’s avoided telling me, but I think it has to do with this region. He’s never had to tell me everything, of course—but it feels like this is something about his past that’s pained him the most, and if he truly wanted me to help him lay his worries to rest, he would’ve told me already. Now that he’s returned to his old habits, it he’s only going to hold it all inside again, and it’ll only get even worse for him, and I…I just don’t know what to do about it.”

Serena slowly returned her eyes to Veronica as she finished, unsure of how her sister would take to her still refusing to fully reveal everything about Erik. Her nervousness could only grow as she found her sister’s eyes scrutinizing her even more while she rapped a foot against her stool.

After a few seconds of silence, Veronica stopped and simply asked, “So, if you’re so worried about him, why haven’t you gone back to him and asked yet?”

The embarrassment constricting around Serena’s heart tightened, and she averted her gaze from her sister once more. She had no way to respond.

“You know what I think?” Veronica asked, her tone incredulous. “I think you’re scared of Erik suddenly pushing you away after all this.”

Serena’s pulse seemed to leap from her throat, a rejection of the desperate denial that panged within her. “No!” she cried. “No, that can’t be it! I want to let him go, Veronica!” She hung her head, raising an uncertain hand to her chest. “I want to let all my childish ideas of love go. I…I’ve ruined everything by not accepting his love as it was…even if it wasn’t what I wanted… And…and I shouldn’t be the only one of us helping Erik with his troubles…not when he could tell everyone else and be better off…”

Veronica groaned, swinging her arms in frustration. “No, you listen, Serena—everything you just said is one heaping pile of horse manure, and you know it! Yggdrasil’s boughs, this is _exactly_ what I told Jade would happen—you’re so frightened that you’re trying not to think about the same Erik anymore!” She gestured back at Eleven in bed behind her. “If he’d wanted to tell someone else, he would’ve done it already, wouldn’t he!? He might not want to give anything away now, but he’s waiting for _you_, because he loves you still!”

Her sister jabbed her finger at the window behind her, and Serena instinctively knew Veronica was pointing to the southeast—towards home, further up in the mountains. “And there’s no way you can’t tell me you’re not still in love with him, because you’ve been through this before—remember what happened with Lucius?”

Hazy memories of their early childhood spent with a pale-blonde-haired boy their age flickered in Serena’s mind—and a tiny echo of her disappointment from four days ago accompanied them. “I…not really…” Serena mumbled.

“Think back, Serena.” Veronica said. “You don’t remember all those afternoons he came along with us to play on the outskirts of the village? Even if he’d stopped being so insensitive for a few months, you still pined after him with just as much energy as you’ve been doing now! He took to all your advances and the flowers you snuck to him as if he was flattered, and you were _so_ captivated—then when you realized he liked me all along after I told him off, you fell into so many pieces you refused to be near him for three weeks straight! For crying out loud, he was so guilty he actually _injured_ himself right in front of you to get a chance to apologize, but you didn’t bother to heal him—you left him in the dirt like he’d dressed up like a shade again! Remember _that_ Lucius?”

Serena could recall that particular incident well—it was one of the first opportunities she had to practice her rudimentary grasp of healing magic, yet limited as her range was at the time, she’d been too mortified to approach Lucius. “Yes…I remember…” she said, ashamed.

“And now look at you! You’re even more timid that you were back then, but it took you less than a day for you to start longing after Erik all over again!” Veronica irritably crossed her arms. “Admit it—you’re still in love with him.”

Serena felt another pang of denial, her agitated cluster of emotions rising again. A part of her wanted to double down on her assertions—that she knew what was right for herself, that she could move on from Erik, that she could let go of her childishness.

“Say it.”

But then, she thought about how easily she had fallen back into her own old habits. She thought about how terrified of that disappointment she was, and knew if she tried to flee from it now, it would only hinder her again. She thought about Jade’s speech to her again, how her friend had told her she didn’t need to let all of it go, that those ideals were an inseparable part of herself.

“Come _on_, say it!” 

She thought about how she had managed to peel back Erik’s cynical and uncaring exterior, and found how much love he had to give hidden away. She thought about how much he actually seemed to enjoy that childishly optimistic side of herself, and how she had brought out tiny pieces of his own. She thought about how lovely she found it to look upon his hopeful smiles, and how much her heart ached to see his expressions so pained. And more than anything, even if he had never realized it, she thought about Erik chose to love her, in spite of how much of a burden she could be.

How much of a fool was she, to want to let any of that go?

“Serena, if you do not speak up, I will go outside this cabin and tell everyone around those campfires myself.”

All those worries knotted together grew heavy as they welled up within Serena, and she released them as she sobbed out, “I—I love him, Veronica!” A tear brimmed in her eye, but whether they were for a timid joy or her lessening fear, she couldn’t tell.

Unexpectedly, her admittance only seemed to make Veronica more aggravated, and her sister’s groan was even more guttural. “Oh, for Yggdrasil’s sake, _look_ at you! That scoundrel made you so hopelessly happy, happier than you’ve ever been in your entire life—and now all of a sudden you’re trying to delude yourself into staying away from him after one goofy misunderstanding like you’d be better off for it! Both you and Erik! You’re both so…so…so _reluctant!”_ She spat the word as if she was offended by simply saying it. “I swear, if you two lived together in a cabin like this, there could be a slippery bloodbonnet nibbling at one of pillars holding it up, but if both of you knew and thought the other didn’t, neither of you would tell the other if they thought it would make them uncomfortable! Grrrrrghh, I can see us running across those disgusting things in the highlands and Erik probably getting just as squeamish as you used to!”

“And _him!_ It drives me up the wall, how edgy and uncaring he liked to act when we first found Eleven, and _still_ tries to when we’re fighting—but he’s probably just as softhearted as you!” Veronica groaned again. “I’ve never met anyone so obliviously shortsighted as him—acting like he doesn’t have a clue what love is, when I bet he’s never looked at a single thing his whole life with half as much adoration as he does you! I don’t understand how that’s even possible!”

“Well, he has loved someone else before, even if his past circumstances didn’t give him much of an understanding of what he was feeling,” Serena said. She was uncertain how Erik would react when he learned that she had revealed the secrets of his past to someone else, but she felt as if it shouldn’t be a secret with her sister anymore. “You see, he—”

“Oh please, don’t get started,” Veronica interrupted. “I don’t want to hear anything from his life story if he doesn’t want anyone else to know about it. Seven sages, if it’s as sappy as I think it is I’ll probably end up _liking_ the moron—and then I’ll have to kiss goodbye to the best destresser I’ve had in years.”

Veronica let out a sigh, and her anger dissolved, giving way to resignation. “Serena, I know how much it might hurt to think you’ve had that kind of misunderstanding about someone. I know how much you’re scared you might be pushed away by Erik again. And it’s obvious you’re dying over him falling back to his old shenanigans, and whether he’s been lying to you or not. But there was a _good thing_ going on between you two—he became so much less of a sulky idiot, and you got the so-called prince charming you always wanted.” Veronica’s expression sharpened, and she jabbed a finger at Serena. “But if you want to stop worrying about any of that, you’re going to have to be _on_ him—like I am with you, right now! Especially since we all need him to quit being so gloomy so he can stop dragging the party down! And don’t you dare tell me that you can’t—I’ve _seen_ you boss him around before because he thinks you’re so precious—so if anyone is going to be the pushy one between you two, it’s _you._

“And if you’ve tried all that, and he somehow really wants everything to be done between you two like you think he does?” Veronica shrugged and made a conciliatory smile. “Well, there’ll be other, less scruffy looking captains in the sea for you to find, alright?” Instead of waiting for Serena to affirm, Veronica held out her arms towards her, beckoning for a hug.

Her sister’s gesture was entirely genuine—but for a few seconds, Serena hesitated, remaining in her seat. She couldn’t help feeling so ashamed with herself. She knew she’d never be able to stifle her love for Erik so easily. She should have been able to figure all this out for herself.

But what could she do? Even after all the effort she had put in over their journey, she still wasn’t nearly as strong-willed as Veronica was. Whenever Serena stumbled, her sister would always have to be there to pick her up. She had accepted that as a fact all her life—but in moments like this, that fact could only eat away at her.

“Serena. Come on,” Veronica said, her voice saddened.

Serena met Veronica’s eyes, surprised at how sullen they had become. A tiny piece of herself whispered for her to brush her sister away, that she didn’t need to be comforted. But that wasn’t just her lying to herself—every other part of her knew if she did, Veronica would be more disappointed than Serena had ever been with Erik.

So, Serena got up from her seat and crossed towards her sister—and was even more surprised when Veronica stood up atop the stool and wrapped her short arms around her, pulling Serena close and pressing her face to her chest, right where her heart was.

“Don’t squander this, little sister,” Veronica said. 

Serena remained silent. For a fleeting few moments, as her sister slid a hand up and down her back, she felt enveloped by Veronica, as if her sister were just as grown as she was months ago. Serena was reminded then—no matter how small her sister was now, and no matter how fraught she could feel about her, Veronica would always protect her, would always be someone who would cherish her, more than anything else in the world.

With that affirmation, relief streamed through Serena, and she wrapped her arms around her sister in turn. “I won’t,” she said.

She felt a breath blow against her stomach as Veronica let out her own relief. “I’m glad you won’t.” After a few seconds, they pulled away from each other, and Veronica looked up at her with a soft satisfaction. She gestured towards the door. “Go back out there and think about it. You don’t need to go after him now, but you need to do it soon, when we’re done in this frigid region, okay?”

Serena nodded, and Veronica nodded back, her smile widening as she sat back down on her stool. Her expression wavered as her gaze drifted over her shoulder back towards Eleven, still unconscious in the bed.

Feeling a prickle of worry, Serena asked, “Erm, are you sure you don’t need to take some time outside yourself?”

Veronica gave her a puzzled look before waving a hand dismissively. “I’ll be fine. I don’t think I’ll be particularly interested in anything coming out of the mouth of another brainbox.” She sighed. “It’s not like my mind’s already preoccupied, wondering how in the world our fearless leader manages to be such a charmer, anyway…”


	22. A Light Among the Shelves

_**Shooting Stars: Mystifying Marvels**  
Lighting the night sky during certain periods of the year, the bright arcing trails of shooting stars and careering comets have captured the imaginations of Erdreans for centuries, and numerous legends have been passed down over the generations to explain this phenomenon. Long before worship of the Goddess spread into the southwestern deserts, Gallopolitan myths in the age of the Guardians of the Star described shooting stars as representations of their patron deity, Pegasus the Godsteed—though later accounts diverge in depicting them instead as falling stars, omens of a great evil descending upon Erdrea. Another enduring legend originates from Drasilian myth, where shooting stars are considered signs of favor upon the fledgling kingdom for leading benevolent and prosperous lives, offered by celestial overseers residing on islands high in the sky as thanks to Yggdrasil._

_Much more study is needed to ascertain how shooting stars truly originate, but thanks to the advent of the astrolabe, created by the Crystal Kingdom’s stalwart study Astrid Albright, this section serves to narrow down her initial findings into a series of dates where they can be reliably observed within the modern calendar, beginning with…_

Erik idly skimmed down the faded pages of the book in his lap by the light of the bright blue lamp above him, rereading the section about shooting stars for the third time in a row. He couldn’t help feeling more than disappointed, though—for a library that was supposed to store the combined collection of all humankind’s knowledge, it looked as if they’d forgotten to get enough information about astronomy, which seemed like a hugely missed opportunity to him.

He hadn’t expected he’d be able to muster up that much interest, what with how unnerved he’d been the past few days, but once he saw the word “astronomy” on its dusty leather spine as his parter opened up the chest hidden in this nook, Erik had found himself skimming through the first few pages, eventually deciding to sit down against the illuminated corner to actually read the entire thing. Now that he was done, he was annoyed that there wasn’t much else waiting for him—but who back then would want to learn about a bunch of stupid stars in the first place, anyway?

Erik let out a sigh. That was him just brooding—he’d known about this library ever since he trekked around the Snærfelt with the Vikings when he was little, and even those boneheads knew everything here was as old as the Crystal Kingdom itself, which didn’t start studying the sky ‘till much later in its history, according to Snorri.

Still, the book had managed to answer some of the questions he’d never been able to find answers to. How the heck anyone had even managed to start studying astronomy in the first place, how the science had been used to actually create the idea of day and night, what the rings on the Æsteinn and other armillary spheres were supposed to mean…there was even a whole constellation catalog for the entire Sniflheim region, with patterns he’d seen and remembered from growing up, and then some.

Yet he still couldn’t help going back to that short, practically unfinished section about shooting stars—and not because of the subject, since one of the stories Serena had told him weeks ago centered around a couple she liked to call “star-crossed lovers.” A girl suddenly found herself waking up in another world without any idea who she was or how she ended up there, but after running into a eccentric band of travelers, she sets out with them to solve all it’s mysteries, willingly and otherwise. Eventually she got it back, and figures out what was going on with their help, a lot of it coming from a more eccentric dude—but though she didn’t realize it at first, that guy was her actual lover in the real world who had dove in to find her—and after saving them both, they would both go back, but lose their memories of each other when they returned.

It was pretty sad, thinking about it now; two people who cared about each other that much getting torn apart by unseen forces. Even sadder still was Erik’s initial reaction to the story on the _Salty Stallion_ with Serena—he’d thought it was the most theatrically sentimental of the stories she’d told him by then, and he’d only replied with a simple “It was cool” when she asked what he’d thought, like the oblivious idiot he was. Except, that last part did hit him pretty hard—someone going through all that to find the person they loved, just for them to get separated? That sucked, especially since the entire mess was completely out of their hands.

Erik didn’t get that reassurance, though. Anything bad that’d happened between him and Serena had been all his fault. But, maybe he could correct his course so that their paths could cross again, and then he’d be able to try to get things back on track.

_Look at you, speaking in those same goofy comparisons like she did,_ a voice bitterly whispered in his head.

Erik scoffed at the thought, partly in affirmation. Why would he even want to go back to Serena, when he’d just waste her goodwill again?

The answer echoed back, loud and clear: _Because you love her._

But did he? If he did love Serena, he would do better than he did with Mia, everything he could do to make sure he didn’t end up hurting her—and then he’d probably slip up eventually, and that’d just make him even more guilty and angry than he was now.

But he needed to go back, because he loved her.

Erik heaved a frustrated groan. He was just running around in his own circles at this point. He tried focusing on the book in his lap again, thinking he could calm himself down by actually trying to read it again—but flustered as he was, he couldn’t manage it. He closed the tome and returned it to the shelf next to him, then made his way out of the nook.

Stepping out onto the third level of the Royal Library, Erik surveyed his surroundings: books, more books, and even more books. A mind-boggling number of them lined shelves against nearly every single wall of the cylindrical structure, even jutting out of the exterior of the central pillar that he was pretty sure were impossible to reach. If that wasn’t already dizzying, a good amount of the place had been trashed by the monsters that had moved in, leaving huge chunks of brown stone and toppled bookshelves in places that would make each level full circles. But even if the debris wasn’t in the way, the party still had to wrap their heads around the switches scattered around to shift the walls and lift the upper walkways to make their way to the top—and with the entire library lined by shelves that looked almost exactly the same, up until a half hour ago all their time was spent walking in circles to reach the special study on this level.

By the time Eleven and Veronica and Snorri had learned how to seal Krystalinda away again—and found that they’d played right into the witch’s hands when they agreed to go after the magical beast in the Hekswood while she was disguised as the Queen—the light shining down from the skylight at the top of the library was tined the slight orange of sunset, which meant the excursion of getting here and finding their way around took up most of the day. Sounded about right to Erik, since trudging around the Snærfelt was an ordeal all its own even on a clear day.

That made trying to go after the witch now akin to asking to be frozen themselves—even if the party Zoomed back to Sniflheim, the cold was only going to get worse as day turned to night, and if Krystalinda had managed to freeze the entire city in an instant without all her powers, she’d probably ice the entire party over with a snap of her fingers if they challenged her when it was dark. So, they were saddled with waiting until the rising heat of the next morning to put her back in her place.

Though it wasn’t like anyone had been particularly saddened, since Sniflheim’s frozen statues definitely weren’t going anywhere. Plus, now that there was a relatively straightforward path back to the entrance, everyone’s minds had been freed up, and they’d all taken a hint from Erik and decided to browse the books themselves. They could only stick to the second and third levels, since those hunter mechs and living statues on the top and bottom were still looking for a scrap, but there were more than enough books on just one level to keep the party busy for ages if they wanted.

As if responding to his thoughts, Erik’s ears picked up distant voices below, and he looked down to the left of the lower level to see Jade, Snorri, Sylvando, Veronica—and Serena, mingling around a couple of shelves next to one of the shifting walls. The Sniflheimer scholar prattled about something to Jade, probably more stories about serving in Sniflheim Castle, while Sylvando hovered behind the Veronica and Serena as they browsed the bookshelves. After a second or two of scanning, Serena perked up as she seemed to recognize a book, and she pulled it from the shelf to show to her sister and the jester.

He had to squint to get a better look, but Erik was sure she spoke with a soft smile as she described whatever book she had picked out to the others. She definitely seemed to be a bit less troubled than she’d been for the past few days, which made Erik want to be happy for her.

No, that wasn’t right. He _was_ happy for her—but he probably shouldn’t be. He’d spent most of yesterday evening tangled in his thoughts at the campfire with Snorri’s stories about the witch and his other research and the history of Sniflheim as background noise, but after Serena got up to go check on her sister and Eleven, she didn’t come out for a while—and he was pretty sure he heard Veronica yell his name once or twice. Erik couldn’t be sure if Serena’s sister’s lecture involved telling her to get over him or not, since Veronica was slightly less sour towards him than before, but whatever she said must’ve did the trick.

If only he had someone who could give him a speech to bring him out of his funk. Sylvando was by far the best at those and could whip one up at the drop of a knife; but as much as he could kick everyone up a notch, Erik doubted Sylv or anyone else knew what do do about his particular dilemma. Heck, as long as he’d been falling into these ruts, the only way that would ever happen would be if the Goddess or the Seer or Yggdrasil Herself decided to plop something in his lap…

Erik started at a high-pitched “Eeep!” to his left, and he turned in that direction to see a blue-furred platypunk frantically bounce around the corner and down the curving corridor towards him, it’s eyes wide with fear. When it could clearly see Erik in the bend, the little round beast froze in its tracks for a moment—before pivoting and hopping back the way it came. He watched as it continued past the corner and reached the debris on the other side of the alcove, then clambered over it to hop further around the ring.

Poor platypunk. Erik wasn’t sure what the thing could be so spooked by, but it was probably best that it got away from him, since it wasn’t like he was in the mood for fighting any monsters then and there. Not just since he was on his own or unnerved by himself, but being back in this frosted region…a long, long, time ago, Erik hadn’t felt the need to be so hostile towards them. It seemed like it would be impossible to go back to that outlook—even if Serena liked to believe otherwise after visiting L'Académie—but he wondered, sometimes, what it’d be like.

Actually, now that he was thinking about monsters all of a sudden, he had to ask: how the heck did that platypunk even get in the library in the first place? Erik definitely didn’t remember seeing any on the plateau coming up; and from what he’d seen as the party traveled around the Snærfelt, none of the other monsters preyed on each other during the day—though he was pretty sure he saw one of those big chihuawyverns chasing after a luminous lampling the night before. That should’ve been true for the library as well, especially since those egghead-looking dragons held what seemed to be their own schooling sessions for the monsters living here…which meant if the platypunk was scared by something, it had to be some_one_, and that could only be…

Erik made his way down the curving corridor, stopping to peek around the corner into the alcove—and sure enough, there was Eleven, reading a book in front of a bookshelf. The surrounding area was clear of monsters who’d probably gotten the message from their other fleeing friends.

Erik thought about calling out to his partner, but hesitated. Even if El was the person Erik was closest to in the party besides Serena, that was probably the last of them he needed to worry with his funk. Especially since it’d been a while since they’d gotten a long chat going—but that was probably because he had more than enough people to talk with when it was just them running around Heliodor.

Even then, Erik felt bad for putting him off—just because Eleven didn’t speak much, that didn’t make him a bad listener. And if Serena had her sister to fall back on to ask about difficult things, Erik might as well see if his friend could lend him a hand, right?

Erik released an unsteady breath, before turning the corner and saying, “Hey, Eleven?”

Eleven stirred for a moment before turning towards Erik, his idle puzzlement giving way to a small smile. He languidly waved a hand in a silent _Hey,_ and Erik scratched behind his neck as he approached. When he was close enough to see what Eleven was reading, his partner held the open pages of the book towards him—a Fun-Size Forge recipe book, each page with a drawing of a different-colored pair of elemental earrings along with a description and instructions on how to forge them. _Want one?_ Eleven’s look seemed to ask.

“Ehhh, I’ll pass,” Erik said, after a couple seconds’ inspection. “Maybe make that icy-looking pair for Veronica, so she’s she doesn’t complain as much about the cold.”

Eleven nodded, his smile widening a little. He grabbed some of his silky hair and followed the strand downwards until he reached below his shoulder, then pointed towards his ear. _Good idea. It’ll match Serena’s too._

Erik sighed, though he couldn’t tell if it was from ruefulness or resignation. “Yeah.”

Eleven’s look grew concerned, and he went back to flicking through the recipe book—spending a couple seconds on each page as he somehow memorized them at a breakneck speed—before closing it and putting it back on the shelf. When he looked back at Erik, he nodded his head to his right, both wanting to move along and asking _What’s on your mind?_

As they started walking, Erik took a few moments to gather himself, unsure how to word things without putting himself or Eleven too on edge. “This is probably going to hit a soft spot, but…” Erik began, “…the people you were closest to back at your hometown—your mum, your grandfather, and your friend…Gemma, right?” He glanced back at Eleven, wondering if he should keep going.

Something flashed in Eleven’s eyes, and his expression grew solemn, but he nodded slowly. _Go on._

Erik paused again, his partner’s confirmation making him uneasy as he thought about what he’d done to Mia and Serena. “Whether you meant it or not, have you ever…done anything to any of them that ended up really hurting them?”

Eleven smiled a lopsidedly wistful smile at his question—no doubt Erik had jogged his memory about all the antics he’d apparently caused when he was younger. He nodded.

“Okay…have any of them ever gotten bad? Not pull a more surprising than you thought prank level bad, but like…bad enough that the other person probably wouldn’t ever want to have anything to do with you again bad?”

Eleven nodded again. Erik’s gaze drifted away, thinking he’d be relieved that his partner could relate, but his anxious fluttering weighed on him more as he cycled through his memories. “I…I’ve done a lot of things in the past that I regret. Believe it or not, some of it has to do with being a thief, but most of that was just petty money-grubbing for the sake of it, not nearly as bad as any of the other things. More than anything else, though, the worse thing I’ve ever done is hurting the people I cared about, really, really badly.

“Growing up, I…” Erik trailed off. A part of him wanted to mention Mia to someone else, but with his nerves beginning to prod at him at the cusp of all those other churning emotions, he just couldn’t find the courage. Old fears were hard to stamp out. Erik shook his head before continuing, “It’s never been something I’ve ever wanted to do, it just happens—something comes up out of nowhere, or I miss out on something that I should’ve seen coming—but either way, whoever I’m closest with at the time gets messed up along with me, but they end up coming out of things a lot worse than I do.”

They passed the nook he had been sitting within minutes ago, and Erik glanced back towards where he saw the others—and sure enough, Serena was still there with her sister and Sylv, grinning at the jester as he held the book she’d had before, as if she’d beamed about it enough to get him to read it—which didn’t sound far off. 

If only he could get her to have one of those looks himself, again. Erik knew he could, though they wouldn’t last long with how oblivious he was—but wouldn’t it still be worth it? He couldn’t be sure.

“I’m sure you know what happened between me and Serena, how much of an idiot I had to be to not see how much she liked me. I probably shouldn’t even be trying to fix things with her again, but I…I feel like _have_ to go back to her. I don’t think I’ll be able to miss any of the romantic hints she shows me this time around, but…if I do go back, I just know I’m going to miss something else that’ll be important, or do something without knowing how bad it’ll be, and then I’ll just end up hurting her feelings all over again eventually, even worse than a few days ago. I don’t know if this is anything you or I or anyone else can change, but I just…” Erik could feel himself circling through his worries again, and he let out a frustrated sigh. “Who knows, man.”

“You’re beating yourself up too much.”

Erik’s pulse skipped at Eleven’s vocal reply. Not just at how quick it was, but because he pretty much never spoke unless he thought he absolutely had to—and as far as Erik knew, the last time was when they were still in the Champs Sauvage. It took him a stumped second to blurt out a “Huh?”

Eleven made a good natured-shrug as veered into the next alcove in front of the stairs leading down to the second level. “You’re too focused on how you messed up,” he said simply. “You keep pulling yourself down, putting all that worry on yourself all the time. Both you and Serena misread the other, but you both still care about each other just as much, right? Should be able to go back and be alright.”

Erik took a few moments to consider Eleven’s words. Was it that obvious he’d been pulling himself down that much? Thinking it over now, he’d been spending so much time and energy trying to keep to himself and away from Serena and everyone else lately that an onlooker would probably think he was sick—and he might as well be, constantly hitting himself on the head with his issues. He’d never really considered how much he did it, but if El could point it out this easily, it did start to seem excessive.

Or was it? He still had that bitter, guilty anger, always lurking in his reach if got too much of an unpleasant reminder. If something came and pushed him too far deep into his regrets, with Serena still around, he could see himself doing something worse than he’d ever done before, even moreso than when he’d had that nightmare at Dundrasil.

Erik sighed, both an affirmation of Eleven’s words, and as a way to prepare for his next ones. “Okay, that makes sense, but…how can you be sure that things will be fine for long?” he asked.

They had made for one of the shelves to the left of the alcove’s far wall, and Eleven reached out for a specific book with a drawing of Yggdrasil printed on the cover as if he’d known it was the exact one he was looking for. His expression grew thoughtful as he inspected the book. “Hmm, I don’t know. I could just be especially lucky, but even if terrible stuff happens, something in the world always ends up making things work out.” The Luminary waved his free hand. “You’ve just got to have faith, y’know?”

Erik couldn’t help but remember the catalyst that’d even brought him to where he was now—running into Eleven in the dungeons of Heliodor, months ago. He’d been so cynical those first few days underground, irritated that he’d believed some kook mysteriously appearing to him and spouting nonsense that willingly going after one of Heliodor’s prized treasures to get himself caught would be the key to solving all his problems—until somehow, a fateful encounter and a leap of faith off a cliff later, and Erik was seemingly on the road to that happening.

He wanted to agree with Eleven. Erik thought that change of heart would last if he did his best to keep him okay—especially since, despite all the snags and craziness along the way, he’d managed to connect with someone else who tagged along and ended up changed for the better. But as much as Erik wanted to go along with the idea, now that all his worries and regrets with Mia were tied up with Serena…it sounded too simple to be the solution.

“Yeah, I guess I figured that, since it’s managed to get us this far in this adventure, but…” Erik faltered, his unease beginning to scrape against his gut. Considering everything all at once now, and thinking about his sister…his mind could only go back further, long before he would have any idea of how cruel his old keepers could really be. For a fleeting moment, Erik could imagine frigid winds and taste saltwater on the air, a wild, dizzying anger coursing through him—and Mia’s tiny, terrified face, aimed right at him. Putting someone else through that, again…he didn't even want to think about it. “…how are you supposed to _know_ that things won’t get bad again, El?” he finally finished. He sounded just as scared as he was back then. “I…I don’t want to hurt Rena, man.”

Eleven looked at Erik sympathetically for a moment, before sighing and glancing at the shelf as he returned the book to its place. When he looked back, he met Erik’s eyes with a half-humored smile. “Look, Erik. You’re never going to know if you’re going to hurt someone or not, because it’s impossible to know all the time, even if you mean well. Crikey, look at me—I used to be nothing but a cheeky-so-and-so when I was little, ‘till Mum and everyone else got tired and had to beat it into my head how much of a blighter I was. You’re not doing worse than lashing out when someone’s calling you a jerk for drawing eyebrows on puppies, are you?”

It seemed odd to compare what Erik was dealing with to petty trickery, but he got the idea, along with a tiny bit of humor for his trouble. “No.”

“Well, you should be right as rain, then,” Eleven cheerily replied. He nodded to the side in a silent _C’mon_ before starting away from the bookshelves, and Erik followed him, stopping as he did at the top of the stairs to the lower level. 

Eleven looked down to the left, and Erik followed his gaze down to their companions, still by the same set of bookshelves—and Serena, amused and openly giggling at Sylvando’s surprised reaction to the book she’d shown him.

It had only been a few days, and yet, seeing some of her signature lightheartedness resurface…a tiny mote of warmth sprouted in Erik’s chest, yet it made him feel hollow, as if he had so much more in waiting. He missed the feeling.

“Go back to her.” His partner’s voice drew Erik’s gaze back to Eleven, smiling down at the party as if there weren’t any problems in the world between anyone. Eleven turned to meet his gaze. “Smile. Hold out your hand. You’ll be alright.”

Erik’s nerves seemed to deny Eleven’s words. The doubts and fears curdling in him told him he would only mess things up again. But hearing his partner’s encouragement now, realizing how bad he’d closed himself off—and seeing Serena back to herself a little, he was more than sure it was worth a shot. He let out a hopeful breath. “I will,” he said, returning a smile. “Thanks, El.”

Eleven nodded back in a silent _You’re welcome._ His smile became noticeably tight-lipped, like it always did at the end of a conversation, and he gave Erik a reassuring pat on the shoulder before starting down the steps.

_One problem solved, and onto the next,_ Erik thought as Eleven made his way to the right around the circle of shelves below. If only he could share some of that determination. A part of him wanted to go back to Serena right then and there…but he still wasn’t in the clear yet. He was still in this cold kingdom, still contending with the source of all that regretful anger—though he couldn’t be certain if that was the case, now—and if being in a frozen over Sniflheim made him that much of a nervous wreck, he didn’t want to know what would happen if he was pushed too far after it was defrosted.

But, he’d be able to deal with it for a little while now. Erik made his way down the stairs, idly deciding to head left around the bookshelves. Mulling over El’s speech as he hit the bottom, Erik was drawn back to the book he had looked over just before—and he still had to wonder, what the heck did happen to Eleven to make him so—

_“Aiiieeeeeee!”_

Erik audibly winced at Rab’s surprised scream, suddenly coming face to face with the old king after turning a corner in the bookshelves. He caught a brief glimpse of a pamphlet’s cover with what was pretty sure was a heart, before Rab swiftly hid it behind his back with both hands. Rab’s cheeks burned an embarrassed red, and his mouth babbled out indecipherable nonsense for a few moments.

“Uh, hey?” Erik said, unsure of what his fearful fuss was about.

His confused greeting seemed to steady Rab, and he heaved a sigh. “Crivens! Ye gave me a fright, sneaking up on me like that!”

Erik shrugged, glancing ahead at Eleven on the other side of the walkway. “You didn’t see Eleven come this way?”

Rab made a shaky smile, nervously scratching the side of his head. “Hyeh hyeh…no, I suppose not. Sometimes this ye get so enthralled by what you’re reading ye forget where ye are at times…”

Erik had heard more than enough from Serena to not understand that. “Well, what were you reading?” he asked.

Rab’s smile grew less pained, but he still wouldn’t take his hands from behind his back. “Why, that’s a fine question, Erik laddie!” He furtively glanced back at the others before asking, “Are ye, perchance, acquainted with…gentleman’s magazines?” he asked, his tone oddly suggestive.

The name sounded familiar to Erik, but he couldn’t remember from where. “Pretty sure I’ve heard of it before, but not really,” he replied, shaking his head.

Rab’s posture wilted for a moment, and his cheeks blushed even redder. “Och! Well, ach—that’s fine, I reckon, I suppose your horizons have been widened enough in your travels to understand the appeal…”

Erik raised a confused eyebrow. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

For whatever reason, Rab’s eyes widened in distress before flickering all over the place. “Och! Why, it’s nothing but a, er…” He abruptly turned towards the others before blurting out, “Aye, it looks like the others are waiting for us, ready and raring to mosey along, aren’t they?!”

“What?” Erik glanced at the rest of the party, finding Eleven among them as they continued to mingle around the shelves, not paying any mind to him or Rab—but when he glanced back at the old king, he was already halfway to the other end of the walkway, stuffing something in this backpack as he scampered away.

Erik stared after Rab for a moment before shrugging it off. He was still curious about that pamphlet though, and Erik took a look at the shelf the old king was in front of and found nothing out of the ordinary save a bunch of different-sized books with noticeably worn bindings or grim-sounding titles on the spines. But then, to one side of the level right below the lowest, Erik spotted a small book leaning to the side against another pair that didn’t fit the entire height of the shelf—and behind those was the vibrantly-colored cover of a magazine instead of wood. When he removed the books in front of it, a handful of flattened magazines flapped forward, each individual cover with a unique drawing of a bunny girl set on a backdrop of hearts.

Oh. Those kinds of “gentleman’s affairs.” Another example of that old rascal’s odd tastes. Erik wasn’t sure how he should feel about it—messing around the nooks and crannies of the world as he’d been over the past few years, he’d had encountered his fair share of bordellos for ladies and gentlemen, and he’d ended up having just about all his curious pleasures satisfied. Growing up under the Vikings and seeing how they treated it, though, doing it just for pleasure never seemed to keep its allure, and he couldn’t remember the last time he’d let himself get that loose. Still, it seemed like it was way past Rab’s time to be so fixated on that kind of stuff—but to each their own.

He humorlessly shook his head at the thought, and put the magazines and books back before glancing at the others again. None of the bookshelves in the entire library had any obvious labeling, but if those magazines were hidden behind all these worn-looking tomes, this probably had to be the “old and scandalous” section.

Probably nothing he would want to read, Erik figured…until his eyes crossed over another outlying book. This one’s faded green binding wasn’t as elaborate as most of the others in the library, with just one of those spiraling circle symbols he’d seen around Hotto and on things belonging to natives in his travels. Curious, Erik pulled the book from the shelf and halfway expected to be met with some raunchy wordplay—and was even more perplexed when he opened it and read:

_ **The Forbidden Technique of Mountain Priest Sanzo: Divide** _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> UPDATE 20 December 2020: This was originally where I had a mini-essay about some of the intent behind this fanfic, including frustrations with the most popular ship in DQXI's community. Linking things in AO3's notes editor eats up a ton of the character limit, and since there were a handful of things there I had to cut out some stuff I wanted to say. Most of my thoughts from the original haven't really changed, but I figured that wall of text needed to be torn down a little more, so [I've moved that to my fledgling tumblr](https://jwhighwind.tumblr.com/post/637981919750094848/a-duology-of-disclaimers-xi-s-serenerik-edition). (it might get more use in the future, but that site's design is really weird so who knows)
> 
> To put things slightly simpler: was this fanfic originally motivated by spite against Luminerik? Kinda! Do I still dislike it? Not really—or at least, not on principle, since DQXI is quite literally the only piece of media that has ever made me want to ship characters, for a very specific reason (more on that in the aforementioned third change). But since I'd like to do this _writing big stories about travel and fellowship and learning about yourself_ thing for a very long time, I'm starting to analyze the stories that have captured my heart, dig into how they work, find out what I agree and disagree with on a personal level.
> 
> I've started to realize that [writing this story was and still is a part of that process](https://bit.ly/2D7KVJY)—yet the more I consider how _overwhelmingly_ self-centered DQXI is (the heroes of the main series have [always been intended to represent you](https://bit.ly/2DpiveL), and while every DQ is inherently self-centered the degree to which this game orbits around the MC is kinda ridiculous), at the expense of its own story (flashbacks to the Luminary's mischief-filled childhood at Cobblestone + the muddled morality between light and darkness + the start of Act III set up a very interesting throughline that's completely ignored), and characters ("let's give this game the best characterization this series has ever had and then make them mouthpieces for an inconspicuously half-baked potato of a messiah instead of being led by an actual human being"), among other things—I seriously think the Luminary is _the most_ frustrating thing about this game, and if future games are gonna be made with the same level of detail, the silent protagonist shtick really needs to be dropped!
> 
> And as such, seeing things where one of my favorite characters is romantically involved with a character I actively dislike is an instant reminder of these conundrums, subsequently grinding the gears of my lizard brain! [It's not a fun feeling to contend with](https://bit.ly/2GsBE1n), especially when said character is the core conceit of a game you love dearly! But alas, love can be a complicated thing, something I've hopefully conveyed decently enough in this story.
> 
> I can elaborate on all of this, and very much plan on doing so—but that would involve a _very_ long essay tying together a bunch of wayward topics, and since I'm still stumbling across things that affect my perception of this game to this day, there's no way I'll be able to do that justice until I'm much further along with this.
> 
> Anyway, if you'd like to pick my brain or just discuss DQXI in general, feel free to find me on tumblr [or elsewhere](https://jwritesthings.carrd.co/) and say hi (or comment here, I guess, even though AO3 does not seem like it was built to have any sort of extended conversations?). Or take a break from reading this fanfic and check the articles I've linked—though fair warning, there is a chance a couple of them might end up messing with how you view media and fandom entirely. (but then again, what's the point of going on any journey if your worldview isn't gonna get profoundly changed anyhow?)


	23. Cold Consternations

“Look!” Serena called out. “The ice—it’s melting!”

Erik added his own gasp to the party’s collective apprehension as he surveyed their surroundings in the wake of Krystalinda’s resealing. For a couple tense seconds, the city of Sniflheim remained just as gloomy and frigid and frozen over as before—and still on edge as he was, Erik wasn’t sure if defeating the witch had somehow barred them from actually unfreezing the place.

At the sound of crackling ice far in front of him, Erik’s gaze snapped to the town gates, and he expected to see more of it tossed at them, until he saw that the ice crawling up the inside of the bulwark was glowing.

Small pieces of the ice on its ceiling had already broken off, tumbling down the icicles and leaving behind sparkling crystals as they disappeared. Soon enough, the rest of the ice began to glow and crack and crumble, and after a couple seconds the only thing left were drifting sparkles before completely fading away. More icebreaking crackled behind Erik, and when he looked over his shoulder at the plaza, he saw the green of the Æsteinn grow brighter as its encrusting ice began to snap and fall into its fountains, until its light began to fully radiate from its sphere, and the surrounding rings began to turn once more. Almost entirely at once, the chunks of ice encasing Sniflheim and all the people in the city dissolved into tiny, shining crystals; and as the crackling crescendoed around the party, for a short few seconds those sparkles rained from the sky as the gray clouds gave way to a bright blue morning.

Fleetingly pretty as the sight was though, the Sniflheimers didn’t seem to notice any of it—in fact, judging from the myriads of shouts from the plaza suddenly cutting off, and all the people continuing on like normal from whatever pose they were in, it looked like they were all still in whatever mindset they’d been when they were frozen all those months ago. Probably for the best, Erik figured…though he couldn’t help wondering if Mia would still be just as fearful as she was if she was ever unfrozen herself…

He didn’t have much time to stew in the thought’s unease as the grimoire in Snorri’s hand began to shine brightly itself—then a huge pillar of light erupted in the middle of the party, forcing Erik to hold up a hand to shield his eyes from the light for a while. After hearing a confused “Wh… Where am I?” as the brightness disappeared, he lowered his hand to find a dazed Queen Frysabel, free from her printed prison after swapping places with the witch—but still wearing the same brown scarf Krystalinda had tried to hide that first of many burn marks from Veronica with.

“Your Majesty…” Snorri began, his voice just as hesitant as Erik felt, “…is it really you?”

When the Queen turned to the scholar, Erik couldn’t help noticing how she looked at him with puzzlement, letting out a “Hm?” as if she’d missed some cue. It quickly disappeared as her eyes grew lucid, and she said, “Oh yes! I remember now! The witch trapped me in that book, and pretended to be me, didn’t she?”

Snorri seemed to recognize Frysabel’s uncertainty as the fledgling queen he had left behind months ago, and his gaze relaxed with an approving nod. “Thank goodness. For a moment there, I was worried the ordeal might have muddled your memory. Fear not, Your Majesty—the witch is sealed away once more.”

The scholar’s approval confirmed to the rest of the party that the danger had finally passed, and everyone produced their own sounds of relief, realizing they had saved yet another doomed locale. Erik’s didn’t last long, though—it didn’t change the fact they were now in an unfrozen Sniflheim, and his quickly disappeared at a scraping groan from the gates. He expected to see some Sniflheimers they’d missed outside now coming in, but only caught a glimpse of the one who had been frozen by the gates, greeting the roughneck postman and dancer who had managed to stick out Krystalinda’s magical blizzard.

At another “Your Majesty!” from behind him, Erik turned to see a Sniflheimer guardsman running around the plaza straight towards them. Even if his interactions with the Crystal Kingdom’s guards were completely minimal compared to Heliodor’s, it didn’t stave away his sputtering unease, and Erik quickly scanned his companions—lingering on Serena a moment longer than the others—to make sure they were all focused on the guard before inconspicuously backing away out of view.

The guard made a typical urging about royals straying from their castle filling their chancellors with worry, and Queen Frysabel quickly agreed to return to her abode. She turned back to Eleven and promised she’d be ready to give them the Blue Orb, the last one to complete their set, whenever they decided to greet her inside the castle. She bowed gratefully at the Luminary and turned to go—but not before making the strange request of asking Snorri if she could hold onto Krystalinda’s grimoire. Another fussy assertion from Veronica was all that was needed to send Frysabel and her subjects on her way though, with a much more disappointed look than Erik would’ve expected over a book housing a dangerous witch.

Everyone in the party watched Frysabel go with a mixture of amusement and satisfaction—except Erik. Sylvando, pepped up from saving the day again, chimed something about “see Sniflheim and die!” and while him and the others started admiring the scenery, Erik couldn’t help taking that comment almost literally. Just like his prickling nerves, all his attention was spread between the Sniflheimers surrounding them as they went back to their business.

It was a miracle that, somehow, none of them managed to be frozen where the party was, just in front of the central steps to the plaza, but all his deep-seated apprehension made Erik sure that would change soon rather than later. He found himself almost whirling around between all the people he could see—to the right, a father and daughter approached the town’s stalwart skáld as he coughed out of his cold—then to the left at the sound of the church’s door opening, though he felt a tiny pulse of relief as a nun stepped out over the Viking priest’s friend—and if he looked straight ahead past his companions, Erik was pretty sure he could make out another of the grown-up girls Mia had played with years ago making her way around the plaza.

Erik’s heart skipped at a gruff-voiced “Oi, ‘scuse me, missus,” next to him, and he was certain he would find a Heliodorian scoundrel when he looked to his left again. But, it was just the roughneck postman from before, getting the attention of Jade to ask if he wasn’t going crazy now that Sniflheim was suddenly back to normal.

“—well, we can wait until later to go peeping and sightseeing!” Erik’s attention was drawn back to Veronica, her gaze cycling between Eleven and Sylvando and Serena. “You all know how it is with these things—if we wait too long, some other idiot’s going to come along and convince the Queen they need the Orb more than we do, if she doesn’t change her mind on her own.”

Eleven nodded in a begrudging agreement with Veronica, dimming Sylv’s and Serena’s eagerness a little—and Erik couldn’t help feeling a little sad himself at the latter’s reaction.

Rab chuckled at the others. “I wouldn’t fret about missing out on any pretty sights, folks. I haven’t been inside Sniflheim Castle in a fair wee while—last time was probably when Gustaf and I had hair on top of our noggins—but if ye’re cheery from just this, the inside of the castle will knock your socks off.”

“Well, if the castle is any more pretty than the city is, I’m sure we’ll find it almost as spellbinding as Krystalinda was herself, won't we?” Serena chimed. Her look grew contemplative as a thought occurred to her. “Though I do have to wonder…why would she want to freeze the entire city in the first place?”

“Shouldn’t you already have an idea from all the fairy tales stuck in your head?” Veronica asked irritably. “If anything, she was probably just trying to flaunt her magic as a test before she went around to cause more trouble or something.”

“Hmhm, I suppose so!" Serena giggled. "I wouldn’t be surprised if her wicked scheme involved her freezing time itself or something similar to another I’m familiar with…”

Erik couldn’t help letting out a low, yearning sigh. There Serena went again, bobbing between her eagerness at the mention of her favorite things. Probably since she had always wanted to take a look around the city—she’d mentioned passing through the periphery to get a ride to Erdrea’s mainland when she originally set off with her sister, but they didn’t have a chance that first time around. Now that things weren’t fuddled up by any crazy icestorms, she glanced around the city between sentences with that playful twinkling in her eyes, ready to say whatever silliness came to her mind about whatever they wandered upon.

On the other hand, he was far and away from anything resembling normal—yet Erik wished he could share even a tiny bit of that carefree attitude. Though it wasn’t like he’d be in any other mindset where they were now. Even if he had always been curious about what the inside of Sniflheim Castle looked like, he had already decided there was no way he was going to go inside, much less take any steps further into a thawed-out Sniflheim.

But seeing Serena as happy as she was, even after everything…it made Erik want to be done with his persistent unease. He wished that he could share those easygoing grins, that he could be just as happy with her. He wanted to be there when she was wandering around the city without a care where her fancies took her, to humor her when she asked her silly questions, to be humored himself whenever she made all her giddy comments while gawking at the Æsteinn or all the stained glass or any of the Crystal Kingdom’s other sights.

Except, he couldn’t, not then—and Goddess, he had already cycled through the reasons why enough. The only thing he could do then, was wait—until they were out of this frigid hotspot of anxiety for him, and until he was sure he could let everything out of himself properly.

Erik glanced back at Jade, who had finished chatting to the roughneck and was hovering near their companions, and took a tentative step towards her to say they’d find him outside town—until a thought occurred to him.

He didn’t have to wait it out. He could go to Serena now, convince her to follow him and fess up about everything, like he’d done weeks ago.

A pit opened in his gut at the idea—yet now that it had popped into his head, Erik found he didn’t even want to wait it out.

It made him feel terrible and selfish, pulling her away from her breeziness and everyone else just to hear his woeful apologies again, especially since they could wait until they’d left the region, but he couldn’t stave off his paranoia. He was scared of them sticking around, and him inevitably getting spotted by someone who knew him. Terrified of having an unlucky run-in with the Vikings—his companions would probably be fine on their own, since most people who didn’t know how they ran the clan thought they were okay folks, as stupid as it sounded. If he was there, though, things would only go south the moment they noticed him…and Erik wasn’t sure who’d be the one who would start things.

He’d thought at least hinting towards all his regrets with Eleven the day before would push away even a little of his unease—heck, he’d even thought of telling him or someone else the full story once or twice since then—but anyone hearing it before Serena never sat right with him. No one else had shouldered his pain with him before, and by then, Erik knew she was the only one who should first.

Erik took a deep breath to calm himself as best as he could. He turned towards Serena, facing her back as she listened to their companions. Knowing her senses were sharper than the others, he took a step forward, and in a low voice, started, “Serena, I—”

“A hearty _velkominn_ to the Crystal Kingdom of Sniflheim to you, wanderer—though I’m sure you and your friends have already been acquainted, haven’t you?”

Erik could swear he saw Serena momentarily tense up at his call—but it wasn’t nearly as rigid as he froze when he heard the distinctive Sniflheimer accent, right behind him. That hole in his stomach quickly began to widen, and he turned on his heel to find the Sniflheimer who had been frozen by the gates to the city, a man with neat pale blonde hair.

“I’m—I’m not fr—uh, what?” Erik stammered, stopping himself from possibly keying the guy into who he was.

The Sniflheimer’s smile grew humored, taking his feigned confusion in stride. “Haha, surely you have found the majesty of the jewel of the north beautiful enough to steal your breath away, yes?”

“No?” Erik answered, his pulse quickening at the offhand mention of his past habit. He wasn’t sure if this guy recognized him or not, but it was only a matter of time before they did. Even more worrying was the fact that Erik didn’t recognize _them_—and he scrambled through his memories to match their face to the hazy pictures he had of Sniflheimers from years ago. Erik quickly cobbled together a lie in the meantime. “We’ve just—we just arrived in town, just a few minutes ago.”

The Sniflheimer man’s look grew slightly confused. “Hm? But I’m sure I just saw our own Queen Frysabel depart from your group not more than a minute ago. Budding as she may be, she is seldom one to turn away her ears from travelers to broaden her horizons.” He looked past Erik at his companions, then back at him, his expression turning quizzical. “Or, perhaps, could she have been there to greet another of your members who are already familiar with the city?”

“Look man,” Erik spoke quickly while trying to keep his voice low, “I don’t know why you’d think a hodgepodge like us could have anything to do with any royals, but—”

He faltered at a deep, shaky sigh from right behind him—and sure enough, Serena’s voice followed soon after. “Erik, what’s the matter?” she asked, sparing a curious glance for the Sniflheimer as she stepped up beside him.

“I…” Erik met Serena’s eyes, half-lidded with a gentle, genuine concern—yet when he looked at her lips, he could see the question forming on them. He didn’t have a clue where she would’ve gotten an inkling from, but that deep-buried paranoia planted the thought that she _knew_ Sniflheim was the place he'd grown up—and it only made his nerves prickle at him even more.

His gaze flickered to the Sniflheimer, then back to Serena, then their companions, then somewhere into space. None of the party were paying them any mind, mercifully, but with both a Sniflheimer and Serena’s questioning gazes on him, it was more than enough to make him ready to bolt away again. 

Except that would be practically telling Serena that he was from the region, which was the absolute last way he wanted to affirm that. He could come clean and say that he was familiar with the city—but that would make the Sniflheimer recognize him for sure, then word would spread around town that he was back, then that would inevitably find its way to the Vikings—and there would be no end to his troubles then.

Buried in his anxieties with nowhere to go, his head spinning and his heart racing, Erik fell back on what had always been his favorite card—misdirection. He stammered out, “Hey, uh—Rena, I don’t remember what Snorri said to us about what kind of stories the Queen liked, do you?”

A worried confusion flickered across Serena’s face as he spoke, leading Erik to think she was definitely onto him for a moment—until it passed as her expression grew thoughtful. “Hmmm…I believe he said she used to favor musicals and other kinds of dramatic productions as a princess; but after taking the throne, she’s ignored the former in favor of historical accounts affecting kingdoms, abnormal or otherwise…”

The Sniflheimer man chuckled his agreement. “That sounds like our Frysabel! Some believe she worries too much about the fates of kingdoms far removed from our own, but I say hooey to that—the more outlandish stories she knows, the more prepared she can be for any predicaments that might befall us humble subjects!”

“Oh, well, I’m sure she’ll enjoy some of the stories we have to tell!” Serena cheerily replied. “Quite a few strange things have happened to us in our travels, though I’m not sure how many of them will be applicable to the queen of a kingdom, but…”

Erik stood for a few seconds to be sure her attention was fully on the Sniflheimer, then promptly slipped away. He felt a tiny pulse of relief from worming his way out of that situation, but that was completely overshadowed by how icky it was to take advantage of Serena’s obliviousness. Would she notice, if she didn’t end up getting pulled away by one of their companions? Erik wasn’t sure at all how she’d react if she did, and that just made him even more nervous.

He shoved it all down as best he could, steadying his face as he approached Jade, hovering at the edge of the party as she quietly surveyed the city. Erik kept his voice low as he tapped her on the shoulder and said, “Hey, Jade…” She turned to him with a curious sound, but he hurried on before she spoke up. “I’m gonna wait outside the gates. You guys can find me there when you’re all finished up in the city.”

Jade’s eyes flickered past Erik to where Serena and the Sniflheimer were and back, but she simply asked, “Are you sure?”

“Yeah,” Erik answered, guiltily averting his gaze for a moment. “Cozying up with royals in their castles isn’t exactly my thing.”

“Well, alright.” Jade’s expression softened with concern. “I hope you feel better, Erik.”

“Thanks,” he replied, even though he knew that wasn’t happening for a while. Erik turned around a little quicker than he intended to, then started towards the gates.

He felt like such an idiot. What was he doing, thinking he could get over his issues when he might as well be right in the middle of place they’d all sprung from? He’d called Serena skittish when she was keeping away from him over the week, but he turned out to be even more high-strung whenever some Sniflheimer got within a few feet of him. It’d been a miracle that the one by the gates hadn’t recognized him in time—but if he ran into someone who did, he’d probably fall apart once they started asking questions.

Remembering the Sniflheimer from earlier had been right next to the gates, Erik hurried forward until he passed under them, worried he’d run into another native northerner in the periphery. He didn’t want to risk snooping around and ending up drawing the attention of another, so he’d just keep watch and stay out of sight if—

“Excuse me, citizen, but have you seen any Heliodorian knights in the city?”

Erik’s heart nearly leapt from his chest at the mention of his old haunt, _here_ of all places—and when his eyes on the green and blue uniform of speaker, it feverishly pounded against his chest as he recognized one of the Heliodorian soldiers the party encountered in the Hekswood two days ago. Instead of the disgust Erik typically expected from them, disappointment was plain on what he could see on the guard’s face under his morion helmet.

That didn’t change the resentment that immediately began stirring in Erik’s gut. Suddenly afraid of himself, he sputtered out a “Wh—what?”

The guard didn’t seem to remember him, or think of his apprehension as weird. “My squad was dispatched here from Heliodor to assist with the problems plaguing the region, but now that the blizzard has suddenly cleared, I’m afraid they might have sailed away and left me stranded here…”

_Do I look like I know where the hell your gang of hardheaded jerks went? You can’t figure it out from how the harbor’s completely empty? Piss off, buckethead!_ All those words were raring to lash out from Erik’s mouth, especially since the guard was on his own with no backup—and for a long moment he could picture the surprise on the guard’s face, right before he pulled out his falcon knife and furiously started swinging at him.

Instead, Erik forced his hands to be still, closing his lips as tight he could and shaking his head in an emphatic negative.

The soldier slumped with his sigh. “As if my luck wasn’t bad enough, coming to this frigid country… Thank you, citizen.” Erik heard him mutter a curse under his breath before he turned to head into the city.

Erik wrenched his gaze from the guard as they left. It seemed so backwards for him to have pity for a Heliodorian lackey—but boy, could Erik relate. Almost everything that agitated his fears had appeared in swift succession, and he’d gone from being just uneasy to a walking bundle of distress in a few minutes. His nerves prickled his outsides and gnawed at his insides, and he still felt that curdling urge to chase after that soldier and give him what for.

He hated that he was stuck in this frozen kingdom, hated that he was stuck with all his bunched-up fears swirling in his mind like a snowstorm, hated that he still had to be so afraid of himself—and by then, he wasn’t sure if even anything Serena could do would keep him from being so on edge.

And what about Serena? She’d seemed to be back to her usual self before, but if she figured out he’d given her the slip by abusing how absentminded she could be, how would she feel then? Erik still couldn’t be sure, but he was almost certain she’d already guessed that Sniflheim was where he’d grown up—and if she did realize what he’d done just then, she’d probably just go right back to being skittish around him again. She seemed ready to try and reconcile with him again, but running off like that just made it seem like he didn’t care—but if he was going to run away from Serena when she was ready to give him another chance, why should he?

Erik’s gut twisted at the idea, and he shook his head. Goddess, he was such a mess—going right back to beating himself up with his own worries. He didn’t want Serena to fall back into being scared of him again, not at all. Even if he was an irritably nervous wreck then, the idea of that happening again scared him more than anything else, making all his other fears seem paltry in comparison. He wouldn’t dare following after the party, but he needed to know if she was still looking for him.

He turned on his heel with an eager hope, thinking he would find Serena longingly staring back at him in the distance. Instead, all he saw was her back obstructed by the rest of the party, walking among them as they made their way across the plaza towards the castle.

* * *

“Now, let us come this way—be sure to look up and appreciate the crystal-like latticework hanging above you once again…”

Serena glanced up at the diamond-shaped lattices hanging from the northeastern buttress as she approached it, walking at the rear of the party as they followed one of Sniflheim’s so-called tourist information officers, a stout man of Rab’s height with quite the avid affinity for the city’s architecture. She’d never particularly taken to the subject herself, but growing up in Arboria’s much more stately structures, Serena had always been eager to see the majesty of the Crystal Kingdom’s firsthand. So eager, in fact, that the first time she and her sister visited the city to get passage to Erdrea’s mainland, she had almost blundered the start of their journey by gawking at the city outside the gates right as their ship was about to sail off…

And yet, despite the chance to have a thorough look, her excitement was rather diluted this time, thanks to the perplexing circumstances surrounding their visit to the castle. It turned out that Krystalinda hadn’t freed herself from the grimoire to freeze the Crystal Kingdom of her own accord; instead, a powerful man from Heliodor had enlisted the witch’s help solely to lure to Sir Hendrik into a trap. What was even more shocking, though, was that some small good came out of the entire affair without the party’s intervention—Queen’s Frysabel’s imprisonment in Krystalinda’s grimoire led to the two learning they had much more in common than they may have thought, enough for a friendship to form between them, and earning the Queen’s trust was enough to give the witch a new lease on life after all the confusion was resolved.

Now that they had solved what they could of another mystery and obtained the final Orb for their collection, everyone had come out of the ordeal with high spirits…or, at least, the companions who were with Serena now. Veronica and Jade and Sylvando and Rab all seemed to enjoy the detail their tour guide put into describing the individual qualities and influences of the Crystal Kingdom’s designs as well, but Serena found herself missing the others. Eleven had decided to take a more hands-on tour of the city on his own, as usual…and Erik…he had simply hurried away outside town before they’d even departed for the castle.

It was rather saddening, really. The more she surveyed the unfrozen Sniflheim, the more she wondered why Erik would want to shy away from the place. The climate was certainly still frigid enough to make one considering bundling up, but he never seemed to be bothered by the cold the entire time they were here…not to mention that she was fairly sure he would enjoy looking around as much as she or the others did…

But, Serena didn’t particularly mind. Eleven always returned from his explorations with all the supplies and equipment the party needed to complete their next objective already prepared for them, and Erik…well, she could guess to the reason why he would’ve disappeared, and she knew things would get better as soon as they left the region. She just had to wait a little longer before they would be able to reconcile with each other. For now, she would simply focus on enjoying herself, just like she’d done the day before.

After the party passed under the buttress, they stopped along with their tour guide in front of a building on the other side as he turned towards them. “And now, we come upon another fine example of Gunnar Bilder Borg’s use of stained glass windows,” he proclaimed, pointing to his left. “Look here, wanderers, at another fine Sniflheimer residence!”

Serena and her companions turned their gazes upon a house identical to the one they had learned about the tour from, with an icy blue roof and an assortment of stained glass set upon its facade. Two tiny teardrop-shaped windows lined opposite sides of the first floor, a larger pair with slanted peaks hung above those on the second, and a prominent round top window jutted from the roof’s center. The longer side of the house faced the cobblestones, making it seem much less mundane than the pub standing on the buttress’s other side, though it seemed strange to Serena for a person’s house to be more intriguing than communal buildings.

Had she been less perturbed, she would have raised that observation to the tour guide—but with practiced foreknowledge, he continued, “Certainly, some of you think it quite odd for private houses to be so striking, hm? Look upon the landscape at its rear—nothing but the sky and the towering mountains, both close in color to the roof, yes? It brings feelings of Sniflheim’s blistering conditions to mind, but aha!—the stained glass! Just as the city serves as a jewel of warmth at the heart of the region, the warm colors at the center of these designs are akin to the warm souls one will find residing in this home! Truly, Gunnar Bilder Borg was a master at his work—embedding visual metaphors within the splendor of his creations!”

Serena’s sound of fascination echoed that of Sylvando’s, finding herself drawn to the dormer window dominating the middle of the facade. Indeed, the muted lavenders and violets arcing around the outer edge of the design pulled her eyes to the warmer colors within, light greens and yellows that were the exact same color as her kirtle and hair.

Though, those colors ringed around a center of gentle blues, not very far removed from the cyan of Erik’s hair… Not to mention the glass of the door to the house below the window was entirely made of those hues…

Wistfulness twined within Serena, and she released a quiet, uncertain breath. The way the greens and yellows intermingled with the blues…she could imagine how wonderful it would be if it were just herself and Erik, wandering around the city together, hands held and fingers interlocked… Her heart begin to quiver, aching for the thought to come true…and yet, despite her sister’s urgings two nights ago, every time she longed for a return to how things were, that hollow disappointment from before never failed to echo within her…

And, as awful as pursing the thought felt, given how Erik had reacted earlier before the party had departed the castle, she still couldn’t dispel the belief that he was still uncertain about them being together…

Serena pushed the feeling away, and with all the awful thoughts accompanying it. She didn’t need to worry herself now. All she had to do was wait for the proper opportunity after the party had left the region, and things would get better.

Their stocky tour guide finished his speech about the building as she finished her musing, then asked if the party had any questions or comments; but given the obscurity of the subject for everyone, none were raised. He nodded them forward with a cheery “Come along now!” before quickly starting up the road again, and the party followed in his wake.

His eagerness made him rather prone to missing the party’s comments among themselves, however, and Veronica was the first to voice hers as they walked along. “Hmph. All this fancy architecture is pretty and everything, but did this Bilder Bork character ever have an idea of what ‘too showy’ means?”

“What?” Sylvando gasped, glancing down at Veronica. “Are you kidding, Ronnie? These buildings are absolutely lovely! They certainly should be—all these nice people managing to eke out a bustling city in a climate like this? If you’re going to live in a place where the weather drops to freezing every day, you might as well live as lavishly and comfortably as you can, no?”

Veronica snorted. “Comfortable, my foot. There’s no such thing as comfortable in this frozen wasteland. And it’s not like all those designs help with that anyway—can they even see out those windows? It’s like they were so full of themselves they thought they could get by without knowing what’s going on right on their doorsteps—like, I don't know, an evil witch about to freeze everyone to death? I bet this guy designed those buildings for people who can throw their money around like it’s nothing, like that lady over there!” She pointed at an extravagantly-dressed woman browsing a stall to the left of the road. “At least Phnom Nonh’s showiness stopped with its people—their buildings didn’t have outsides that dazzled your eyes every time you looked at them!”

Jade let out a low giggle. “You know, Veronica, you’re actually a bit of a show-off yourself,” she pointed out.

“Aye, there’s no questioning that—and I’d wager even more than this extravagant lad right here,” Rab chimed in, jovially elbowing Sylvando on the hip and drawing a petulant “Oh, thanks!” from the jester. “If the folks from Arboria are anything like ye, I’d think the buildings there are just as showy ye can be, right?”

“Oh, nononono_no,”_ Veronica denied, flapping a hand around. “Our hometown might have some things that seem showy the first time you see them, but trust me—it’s about as dull as a drohl drone most of the time. Right, Serena?” she asked, looking over her shoulder.

“Hm?” Her sister’s words temporarily jolted Serena from her glumness, and it took her a moment to reply. “Well…personally, I’d say there’s a more stately beauty to our home than anything—but yes, I think more than a few people could find it to be rather dull…”

“Oh, honey, if even Rena says your hometown can be dull, I’m wondering what in the world could’ve happened to have Ronnie spring out of there,” Sylvando joked.

Serena’s gaze had drifted between speakers, but when they returned to Veronica’s, she found her sister’s eyes narrowed, aimed right at her—but it disappeared a moment later as Veronica grouchily replied to Sylvando. Serena remained silent, keeping her attention away from her sister as the party turned along the road and made their way up the steps to the main square.

The tour guide’s steps seemed to turn into skips as he reached the plaza, where he had plenty of space to do so. Many of the people who had been frozen before had long since departed, leaving only a young boy clamoring to a mage far to the left of the party, and two Sniflheimer women conversing next to the fountain at its center. The party’s guide chimed out about the iron latticework and mosaics they walked upon before they reached the fountain themselves, where he turned towards them with an even wider grin. “Now, if the castle could be considered the crown of the Crystal Kingdom, then this marvel residing atop the fountain would have to be the jewel decorating the center of that crown! I present to you, wanderers, the pride and joy of Sniflheim’s ancient astronomers: the Æsteinn!”

A collective fascination was very much audible throughout the entire party at finally learning the name of the contraption before them: an elaborate assortment of golden rings, all slowly revolving around an enormous, dazzlingly bright green sphere, even brighter than the Green Orb in their possession.

The tour guide had paused in his speech to let the bedazzlement sink in with the party, but Rab, long-familiar with the city, simply chuckled his amusement. “Och, seeing the Crystal Kingdom’s armillary sphere in action for the first time never fails to get folks starstruck, doesnae it?”

“Why, yes, it certainly does!” the man agreed. “Your wise gentleman’s acquaintance with astronomy is correct, wanderers—the mechanism you see before you is indeed an armillary sphere! Today, it is mostly known by the people as a symbol of everlasting peace, but that is a mere fraction of the the Æsteinn’s significance! It is also a celebration of celestial knowledge—the fruit of generations of research pursued by scholars under the guidance of Sniflheim’s own Albright family, completed by Einarsteinn shortly after Erdwin’s Ascension marked the end of the Age of Heroes.”

Their tour guide turned and reverently raised both hands towards the fountain. “Using his family’s extensive annals, Einarsteinn was able to confirm a monumental discovery: that our Erdrea is not a realm only to itself, but just one within a larger realm comprised of countless others, standing in a vast, mystical expanse stretching above us in all directions. And, the sun, the moon, Erdwin’s Lantern, the Mercury constellation and the rest of the stars are all a part of the same expanse, with each possibly being realms unto themselves! Fascinating stuff, no?”

Serena certainly didn’t need their guide’s awe-inspired speech to be fascinated herself. Even when she had passed through months ago, she’d always found the Æsteinn to be engrossing with how beautifully intricate it looked. Though now that it had been thawed out, seeing the rings slowly revolve around the sphere was an almost hypnotic display. It seemed quite obvious to Serena that it had was enchanted—from what she could tell, the rings moved entirely on their own, and wisps of light radiated within and outside the stone, brilliantly enough that green glimmered off the water of the fountain below in the late morning daylight. 

In fact, though she couldn’t muster up the desire to express it, unlike Veronica, Serena didn’t think the Crystal Kingdom’s architecture was too extravagant—it all seemed rather enchanting, really. When she had stepped into Sniflheim Castle and beheld all the kingdom’s signature stained glass and lofty arches and elaborate mosaics, she could so easily imagine it within the bindings of some of her favorite stories…though, oddly, the enormous elevation of the throne room reminded her of a chapel serving as the initial setting of a rather grim tactical tale she had encountered long ago.

Still, she had found Sniflheim’s fascination with astronomy to be the best of them all—whenever Serena had looked up at the vaulted roofs inside the castle, their lights and mosaics working together to be striking. Other than the numerous stained glass windows, most of the light throughout the castle came from intricately designed chandeliers set with enchanted glowing crystals in place of candles…and the sky blue of the throne room’s in particular mixed together with the midnight blue mosaics dotted by stars, granting the room such a beautiful, dreamlike quality…

Except…Serena’s admiration for the stars wasn’t something she had taken well to on her own…that had come out of all the times she had spent with Erik. She’d been surprised to learn he actually took quite well to the greater subject of astronomy himself. When they’d completed their objective at the Royal Library, he’d spent most of his time reading an ancient tome about it—though, given that wonderful twinkle he had in his eyes whenever he spoke of them on the ship, she probably wouldn’t have been wrong to assume he wanted to learn more about them.

That could only lead her to question…how did Erik come to like them so much? He’d said they had been invaluable in helping him get around in his early travels, but it had always seemed like it was a more deeply-rooted sentiment. Could he have absorbed it from spending a great deal of time in the Sniflheim region? Save Heliodor, he had never mentioned staying around any other areas for long, but it would explain quite a few things: the frigid climates hadn’t bothered him as much as it did their other companions, and though he didn’t have much to comment about the particulars of the region, all of his warnings had been quite thorough…not to mention how he never found the expansive stretches of the Snærfelt to be very confusing…

The connection tickled at something in the margins of Serena’s mind. Her thoughts drifted back to before, when he had left to the outskirts of the city after drawing the attention of one of the Sniflheimers. Did one of his escapades take him to this region, only for it to end badly and draw the ire of its people? Was he afraid of accompanying them and getting the party marked as criminals along with him? To Serena, Sniflheim’s people seemed much too jolly for that—and yet, if he had always been paranoid of others learning about his past before, it made her wonder if this region had been a root cause of it. But, if Erik had been willing to tell her about everything before, what could be driving him to suddenly hide things from her now?

That awful misgiving rose in Serena’s thoughts once again—as much as she didn’t want to ponder it, maybe…maybe he truly was trying to push her away.

The pain the idea brought twisted around her heart, yet she couldn’t help following its thread. Could that have been why he’d been so scared of her over the past few days? Was that part of why he had ran away before? She could feel her feverish tangle of emotions creeping upon her again, and now she—

_No,_ Serena assured herself, shoving down her paranoia. That couldn’t be how things were between them at all. She didn’t need to worry about anything. She simply needed to wait, and avoid all those nasty ideas, and things would get better, when she had a chance to make things better.

Their tour guide finished with his spiel about the Æsteinn’s history, then started away from the fountain in the direction of the castle. Serena and her companions moved to follow him.

“_Hæ_, Karola—have you also spotted that handsome boy by the gates? Spiky blue hair, a pretty green knife at his belt, looks a little moody?”

Serena planted her feet on the ground, easily picking out Erik’s description from the women speaking nearby. She couldn’t help turning on her heel towards them on the southern side of the fountain—and not without noticing a familiar silhouette of muted green and bright blue far in the distance.

The Sniflheimer woman with brown hair frowned disapprovingly at her pale-haired friend. “Oh, come on, Valerie—shouldn’t you have quit that silly hobby of yours already? The bunny girl is just doing her job, and you know how wishy-washy young husbands can get.”

“Karola, I am serious!” replied the pale-haired girl, petulantly pointing at the gates. “Just look over there.”

The brown-haired woman took a moment to follow the gesture. “Yes, he looks quite handsome, but what makes this one any different from any of the other boys you have been leering at?”

“Can you not see the air of danger surrounding him? It is so gruff, so mysterious…and yet, so familiar…almost like he could have been a Viking!”

Serena’s gasp seemed to suck all the breath from her body. The brown-haired woman began to further chide her friend’s fantasies, but Serena’s could no longer process their words—her heartbeat quickened with the inner workings of her mind, tying together numerous threads she had left dormant for so long.

That gap in her earlier perceptions seemed so foolish now. Serena had been so fixated upon their relationship as it was then that she’d nearly forgotten about the true cause of all Erik’s troubles: the Vikings, the rough and riotous keepers who had raised him and his sister in squalor with little care for their well-being. As she remembered how he’d described the clan’s leading perpetrators, she began to survey her surroundings with a newfound attentiveness, wondering if she would suddenly recognize one of the fears from Erik’s accounts somewhere within the city.

And his fears didn’t rise on their own—Serena’s mind fell back to how Erik seemingly wanted to speak to her alone again earlier…only for him to direct her attention to that Sniflheimer man, who’d likely been speaking to him before. It had only seemed like happenstance initially, but as Serena’s doubts began to take root in her heart, she could feel her heart dividing in two… One part of her wanted to believe that he finally wanted to reconcile with her…but as that hollow disappointment began to bore into herself once more, another part of her was certain that Erik didn’t want anything fraught between them to happen—so, he would speak to her alone, only to tell her that she shouldn’t love him any longer.

Her worries began to tangle within herself again. She glanced in the direction of her companions, their backs turned to her as they stood directly before the castle. She was sure she could return to her place behind them without anyone noticing. For a moment, she considered going back and focusing her mind on the tour again, so she could better dispel her turbulent thoughts.

Instead, Serena found herself turning on her heel and starting towards the south of the city.

One of the women glanced at her in the corner of her vision, but she barely noticed. Serena’s legs hurried her forward, Sniflheim’s cold air and people and architecture all but forgotten—the only thing she could direct her focus towards was the smudge of blue and green in the distance, Erik standing to the side in the space outside the gates, growing within her vision with every single step.

When she could clearly make out his figure, surprise echoed within Serena, and she began to slow down, stopping with a dozen steps between her and the bulwark. From what she could see, Erik’s posture seemed to be as normal as it could be then, standing straight with his arms crossed near the jetty as he stared out to sea. If there was anyone else on his side, they paid him no mind.

Serena stared out at Erik, unsure of what she wanted to feel for him then. Aching worry, for what regrets could be ailing him. Twines of yearning, to know that he could be okay, that they would be able to reconcile with each other. Apprehension, for her own fears—if her own troubled thoughts came to pass, all the distress smoldering within her would undoubtedly become perpetual fixtures for the rest of their journey.

She wanted to step forward and lay her worries to rest, but as that dread began to creep out and stifle everything else, working up the courage to move felt impossible…and Serena found herself resigned to that fact. She’d certainly remain unsure about things for a time, but if Erik at least looked okay, then maybe she didn’t need to push anything right then and there. She would just need to wait, and—

Serena’s pulse sputtered at a shove from behind her, and she barely kept herself from crying out as she stumbled forward. She thought an apology would follow from a distracted Sniflheimer as she recovered—but when Serena turned around, she found Veronica, glaring at her with an accusatory irritation.

She awkwardly clasped her hands, feeling her cheeks heat up despite herself. “V-Veronica, I—I wasn’t planning on d-doing anything ju—”

Veronica’s sweeping gesture silenced her stammering. “The city’s not an enormous icicle anymore, and we’ve got the Blue Orb now, don’t we?” she snapped. “Unless Eleven takes on some oddball request in the next hour, we’re practically _done_ with this frozen wasteland—which means _you_ need to quit waiting, and go make things right with Erik, right now!”

“B-but, I can’t, not—”

“Serena…” Veronica uttered, her low tone serving as a warning.

The firmness of her sister’s voice silenced Serena’s protests. She made a quivering sound, shamefully averting her gaze towards the half-snowed cobblestones. Veronica’s presence served as a wall between her and a reprieve—yet nearly every part of Serena cried out to back away still, to keep herself from what awful outcome might occur if she tried to go back to Erik then.

But…deep down, Serena knew that she was still merely deluding herself. She wouldn’t have broken away from her companions if she didn’t want to reconcile with Erik already. And every time she told herself she could wait, she was only delaying the inevitable—if something dreadful really did happen, it would only afflict her with an even greater sorrow. She had no choice, then, but to continue her course—to go and find the full truth of things, however awful it might be.

Serena raised her gaze to Veronica’s once more, and found it unchanging—the curl of her lips still accusatory, and her eyes half-lidded with concern, yet resolute. She imprinted it onto her mind’s eye, dispelling what little unease she could with its reassurance, then turned in Erik’s direction, still standing as he was on the other side of the gates. Gleaning what she could from what was visible, she slowly stepped forward until she was under the shadow of the bulwark, then paused. 

Like the perceptions of their companions as they sailed to the region, her abashed denials were only distracting Serena from how he truly was then. Erik's arms were crossed, but he hugged them close to himself, with one hand tightly clutching the sleeve of his tunic. He was standing up straight, but instead of leaning backward as usual, he was pensively hunched forward—and his legs were bent stiffly, as if he were ready to flee at a moment’s notice.

Serena could picture him running away from her as soon as his eyes fell upon her, confirming her fears in a terribly decisive way. The thought of it was enough to make her want to turn back—but she couldn’t let herself turn away, not now.

She raised an uncertain hand to her chest, feeling the weight of her pounding heart. She pressed down in an attempt to stifle it, along with all her tangling thoughts. She heaved a trembling breath, before finally stepping forward out of the shadows and calling out, “Erik?”

A jolt visibly twitched across Erik’s entire body at her voice, and his head drooped. For an achingly long second, Serena was almost certain he would flee from her again—until he slowly turned himself towards her, still holding his clenched posture. When he met her eyes, she saw that they were noticeably half-lidded, almost as pacifying as his uncertain smile. “Hey, Serena,” he said, speaking as if it were an idle greeting.

Serena had used that expression enough herself to know that it was a facade. She held his gaze for a few moments, before asking, “Earlier, before we departed for the castle…you had me talk with that Sniflheimer, because you changed your mind about telling me something, didn’t you?”

Guilt contorted Erik’s expression almost immediately as he averted his gaze—and Serena’s insides could only twist along with it. Whether they were true or not, it was enough to confirm all her fears, and she felt her legs clench up on their own, ready to whisk herself away. Her agitated snarl of emotions began to tighten, following the thread of her dread as it scrabbled within her—but she shoved it all down, keeping her gaze upon Erik as his own regrets began to cycle in his eyes.

Serena felt a prickling regret, intentionally pushing him further into his own—yet she ignored the feeling, overshadowed as it was by a pang to know the truth. Her mind had long since tied together what wayward strands it could, and though she guessed the Vikings didn’t stay in the city themselves, she knew she would have to pull the answers out of him.

Instead of asking, Serena affirmed, “Sniflheim was your home, wasn’t it? Where you and your sister were raised?”

Erik gripped his arms tighter. His eyes flickered up to meet her questioning gaze for a second, then quickly looked away, letting out a pained breath. “Rena, please…not now,” he pleaded.

His voice was just as shaky as Serena felt, enough to soften her heart—and she ignored that, too. She refused to let either of them shy away anymore. She closed her eyes, remembering the carefully stern look Veronica had adopted for her minutes ago, and replicated it as best she could. “Erik," she said firmly, “I _know_ there’s still something that’s been eating at you all this time. If you want to free yourself from it, then you need to come and explain _everything_. Right this moment.”

Erik didn’t move. His eyes wavered, searching space for his next move, and for a few seconds Serena was sure he would push her away then. Instead, he clamped his eyes shut and shook his head. “Dammit, Rena, I…” He trailed off, sighing deeply as his body loosened, accepting the circumstances.

Serena allowed herself some small relief, knowing she had convinced him, but she held her stern look. She scanned their surroundings for a comfortable place to sit; finding none, she settled upon an outcrop of rounded boulders rising at the edge of the jetty. She kept her eyes on the rocks as she walked past him, and his footsteps followed behind her seconds later. Finding a place that looked relatively bearable for them to sit upon, Serena called upon her magic, sending a small gust of wind to clear the snow from its surface.

The stone remained as bone-chillingly cold as she sat down, but Serena paid it little mind. As Erik stood before her, he visibly seemed to—his eyes grew distant as he looked at the space she had cleared for him. When he sat down, he laid his palm atop the rock and slid it along the rugged surface, like the cool rigidity was a long-forgotten sensation.

A frigid ocean wind grazed Serena’s back as she waited for Erik. He held his gaze against the ground, undoubtedly gathering his courage, until finally, after nearly a dozen long seconds, he began to speak.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for a very brief time, eagle-eyed readers may have noticed a 36 in place of an ? for how many chapters this story would take to complete. But now that my prose has long since reached its final verbose form, I'm starting to realize that's a pretty lowballed estimate—especially since we're far out of the _one chapter a region_ zone at this point. On the other hand, now that I finally have a pretty good grasp over what direction things are gonna go in much later on, the summary on the tin is probably going to stay the same forever.
> 
> [And in case you didn't catch the pun...](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50630558416_04a8980619_z.jpg)


	24. Melt through the Frosts with Love

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yes, the title is a play on [that song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_NS5oEQQZM).

_Already weary from the day’s work, Erik sluggishly stepped out the rear of the hideout into the late afternoon sunlight, the air still frigid despite the clear skies. As unpleasant as it usually was, getting out into the cold was a welcome relief, since being confined in the hideout most of the day was always tiring—and boy, had this day been a tiring one._

_Gathering the wood and helping Thorsten load up all the longboats for tomorrow’s expedition hadn’t been any different from a typical morning, until Vestri returned from the city. As usual, he’d forgotten how easy it was for serkers to catch the eyes of the Crystal Kingdom’s guards if they weren’t mucking around the pub, even if he hadn’t caused any trouble already, and he’d come back with his hull broken and ready to take it out on someone. He’d chosen to shout down Ingvar instead of just rouging up Erik or one of the other prælows, thankfully—but once that erupted into a full-on brawl that tore up the dining hall, Erik had been saddled with fixing half the tables and chairs, again._

_As he trudged through the snow towards his and Mia’s makeshift shelter cave again, he had a niggling urge to just go inside and rest his tired body away. Too bad there was plenty of stuff that needed to get done for them still: they were only down to a handful of apples to eat, he still needed to gather enough firewood to get her through the next few days while he was gone, and he was pretty sure one of the ropes holding up their tarp would need to be replaced before long._

_The Viking longships took so much rope that finding some wasn’t a problem, but convincing Roald to actually hand it down to him was another story. Erik had brought one of his daggers along with him to try and sneak a coil away, but one of the women convinced the sundur storekeep to hand some to Mia instead—if only because his sister was still getting her work done much quicker than usual lately, which was good. He’d shown her how to set up their sleeping pallet more than once before, so hopefully she’d taken advantage of things and already gotten started, so they could start their own trek to Sniflheim soon._

_Knowing Mia, there were probably a dozen ways she could end up making the rest of the day another handful, either by causing trouble of her own in the city or simply getting confused over how to knot the rope correctly. Erik shook his head at the thought as he reached the shelter, partly expecting to see an undone tarp and a peevish Mia as he opened the door and walked inside._

_He was surprised to find his sister sitting hunched over next to their pallet, but the extra rope was piled up on one side of the cave. When Erik saw what was in her hands instead, his small pleasure drained away with his resigned breath._

_Mia held up another cup she’d snatched from the dining hall before her eyes, plated in gold like almost every other mundane object she’d gotten her mitts on, thanks to the magic necklace Erik had gifted her a couple weeks ago. He glanced around the cave as he approached, and sure enough, she’d added more to her collection: a pair of vases that’d been sitting around, a tea kettle, their two goblets, the dish they used to hold their fruits—and even the apples that were sitting inside._

_As much as Erik wanted to get irritated for something as shortsighted as turning what food they had left into gold, there was too much he needed to get done for him to bother. Instead, he simply said, “You’ve been at it again, huh?”_

_His sister turned towards him with a gratified chuckle, showcasing the cup as if it were their ticket to freedom. “What’s the matter, Erik? Jealous of my treasures?” she taunted. “Tell you what—if you ask me really, really nicely, I’ll let you have one!”_

_Erik bit back a comment that she’d have to give up her so-called treasures to sell if they wanted to eat. When she turned back around, he noticed a pile of other gold baubles in front of her. “Let me see now…” Mia said. She wavered a hand over a completely yellowed brighten rock, gold-plated mithril ore, one of Signe’s wooden carvings of a seagull, and an oversized ice crystal before letting out an “Ah, perfect!” as she decided on the bird._

_She pulled the carving from the pile and extended it towards Erik. For a second, he thought Signe had done a pretty good job making it look like the real thing…then blurted a surprised “Huh?” when he realized it hadn’t been a carving at all—it was a real seagull, lifelessly plated inside a golden exterior._

_“W—wait, you didn’t… Did you?” Erik sputtered. He wondered how the heck she could’ve even gotten close without the gull flying away, before dropping the thought entirely. “Mia, this isn’t right!”_

_“Yeah, I suppose it is a little small,” Mia replied, casually looking back at the golden gull. “I forget how greedy you are…”_

_“Seriously, Mia, it’s not funny!” Erik snapped, loud enough to startle her. “This has to stop!”_

_Mia dropped the bird, and she brought her gaze back up with a petulant glare. “Hey! There’s no need to shout! And anyway, _you’re_ the one who gave me this thing.”_

_Even with his rising anger, the only thing Erik could manage was a growl and an irritable frown. Mia let out a groan of her own before indignantly turning back to her pile of trinkets._

_There they went, getting started again. His patience for dealing with how much she abused her new gold-transforming powers had dwindled to nothing by then, what with them going around in circles about that stupid necklace the entire week with no end in sight. He couldn’t even believe she got the idea of _him_ being the greedy one in all this—she was the one who’d gotten a magical necklace and started treated everything she changed with the thing like they were more important than anything else._

_As much as he wanted to be irritated with Mia, though, the only person Erik could be mad at for being shortsighted in the whole deal was himself, giving her the necklace in the first place. He’d managed to push away the initial foreboding of being right about the thing with how ridiculously happy she’d been those first few days, especially since some of the knick-knacks he’d been saving for a snowy day sold for more in town when they were gold-plated. Now, she’d been too stubborn to even let him touch her baubles without throwing a fit. Erik tried thinking of something that would get his sister to realize this was too much, but by then it wasn’t like it would matter._

_He was even more surprised then, when Mia let out a regretful sigh, before turning herself back around to sullenly look up at him. “Okay, okay, I get it. I guess I have been getting a little carried away. Just…stop looking at me like that, will you?” Something in Erik’s look must’ve mollified her even more, and her gaze fell to her lap._

_His sister’s sudden apology could only settle down Erik’s own anger, but he still felt ashamed that things had to go this far this quickly. “I’m sorry I lost my cool, okay? It’s just—”_

_He faltered as Mia quickly raised herself from the ground, lifting her hands in surrender. “No, no, it’s fine. I’ll stop turning things into gold…for now,” she added, her look getting back some of it’s mischief. _

_Mia reached behind her neck to take off the necklace, and Erik allowed himself a small smile. He’d thought he’d have to prod her a lot more still to get her to quit it, and it’d probably be a short time before she’d go back to her antics—especially since he’d be leaving for the next expedition tomorrow—but at least she was finally seeing straight._

_After a few seconds of fumbling around with the links, Mia made a confused sound before looking over her shoulder. “Why won’t it…?”_

_“What’s wrong?” Erik asked._

_“The necklace—it won’t come off,” Mia answered._

_Or maybe his sister was just trying to trick him again. “Come on, Mia, stop fooling around.”_

_Mia fidgeted with the necklace for a couple more seconds until her expression grew troubled. “I’m serious, I can’t get it off!”_

_Erik’s doubt quickly mirrored the worry in his sister’s voice. He couldn’t shake a sinking feeling at how off things seemed, and momentarily considered trying to get the necklace off her himself._

_Then the necklace started to glow._

_Mia took a step back as eerie purple light shone from the pendant, wisps of smoke spiraling outward as its sound rung hollow in the air. “Wh—what’s happening now!?” she stammered. “I didn’t do anything, I swear!”_

_As if in answer, a low tinkling arose as the smoke grew heavier—and then, solid, sparkling gold began to creep outward from the center of Mia’s chest._

_The phrase from the pirate king’s journal two weeks ago suddenly echoed in Erik’s head—_the wearer’s fate is bound to discovering gold at their fingertips wherever they may venture_—and a chill crawled down his spine. Heart starting to race, Erik knew there wasn’t any avoiding getting the necklace off now. “Don’t move,” he said, pulling out his dagger and stepping forward. He’d just circle around to quickly cut one of the links, and—_

_A pulse of purple light burst from the necklace as soon as Erik lifted his hand, and he couldn’t help stumbling backwards. The blade of his dagger glowed with that same sinister aura as it morphed from iron to gold, then crumbled to the floor before his eyes. He feared for his hand, dropping the leftover handle and wrenching his gaze back to his sister—then floundered away onto the ground as smoke from the pendant filled the air around her. Gold had spread across nearly all of Mia’s torso by then, and her fearful fidgeting became stiffer and stiffer._

_“Dammit! What the hell’s going on!?” Erik exclaimed._

_“I—I’m turning to gold!” Mia cried. Her voice was heavy and tinny. “Help me!”_

_“Mia, hang on!” Erik called back. The binding part about the necklace made a complete and terrible sense now—but he’d thought the necklace was only supposed to change things Mia _wanted_ into gold, not Mia herself! He wracked his thoughts for an idea, but they spun too rapidly for him to grasp one. “Dammit, what do I do, what do I do!?”_

_Crazily, Mia broke her stiff pose to reach out to him before freezing again—and some of the gold plating her body shifted with it. That gave him an idea, and he stumbled towards his sister. Maybe if he could get her moving, it would—_

_Chinking suddenly whispered in Erik’s ears, and he stopped with a couple steps between them. The gold had already spread down her leg to spatter onto the ground and was slowly creeping outwards. It spread near his foot, and Erik barely resisted the urge to back away again—he couldn’t, not now!_

_“Erik!” His gaze snapped back to his sister. The gold had left only her limbs and terror-stricken face untouched. “Help me!”_

_Mia quivered herself forward again, her outstretched fingers twitching towards him. She called his name again, but the gold framing her cheeks barely let her pronounce his name._

_The terror still in her voice infused Erik with a wild, desperate hope. He stretched his arm forward as far over the gold as he could to grasp hers—until the gold swallowed the rest of her arm._

_He reflexively pulled his hand back. He glanced at his fingers to make sure they were still skin until Mia’s hollow scream pierced his ears a moment later—and when he looked back at his sister, the pendant’s light grew blinding._

_Erik shielded his eyes from the light as a stifling aura prickled across his body. His heart pounded against his chest, charged by fear of the gold spreading to this body too—but after five long seconds, the air began to clear as the brightness darkened. He slowly opened his eyes, the tiny embers of his hope wanting him to believe what he just saw was some sick nightmare, that he’d wake up find his sister as she was minutes ago._

_When Erik could clearly see, his hopes blew out with his gasp._

_Mia stood before him, fully encased in solid, shining gold. Erik’s eyes wandered over every part of her frozen form, looking for something that would tell him she was still there, any tiny sign of life—but everything about her was immersed in a yellow-plated prison: her petrified expression, her scarf and long braid hanging in the air, her motionless stride as she reached out for him, all the clothes on her back…and the necklace, its rubies turned into gold as well._

_The necklace he had given her._

_Erik lifted his hand before himself in a daze. His eyes searched his calloused hand for some tiny fleck of gold, any small proof that he’d gotten close to doing something. But there was nothing else there. He hadn’t even gotten close._

_His insides began to contort, and he uttered a sound of pain as he collapsed onto his knees. He balled his hand into a fist and slammed it against the ground._

_It was too cruel. For a fleeting few moments, after all the bickering they’d gone through, Erik thought his sister was finally learning her lesson—just for this to happen, just for her to get snatched away._

_Except he didn’t know what _this_ was, or even what he was feeling. What little sparks of his hope that were left wanted him to believe that she was still there—Mia was still there, she was just frozen—while everything else screamed the undeniable fact that she was as good as gone._

_He slammed his fist on the ground again._

_Why? Why did she have to be so hellbent on getting gold? Didn’t she ever realize how fixated she was? Did the way their keepers act about the stuff ever cross her mind? If she’d actually sat down and thought about how bad she was getting, would she have ever stopped, ever tried taking the necklace off?_

_No. It didn’t matter when, or how she would’ve learned her lesson, because the necklace would’ve done this to her no matter what they tried._

_The necklace _he_ had given her. Mia was dead, and he was the one who had killed her. He was a terrible, _worthless_ excuse of a brother—he had to be, for things to even have come to this._

_He slammed his fist on the ground again._

_Erik’s breathing was heavy and ragged, his body shaking with each heave. He hadn’t realized it before, but where there was once a warm and aching pulse was now a jagged, empty scar. It was painful enough for him to want to cry, but no tears would come. _

_He found his mind drifting back towards the clan. For some twisted reason, he wondered if that wound could be healed, if he buckled down and decided to stay with the clan again. But was there anything left for him, then?_

_Except he already knew—there wasn’t. Without Mia, there was nobody for him to take care of, nobody for him to tease and laugh with, nobody to share what tiny hopes he had with, nobody to make anything about Vikings worth staying. And for Erik, there was nothing—nothing but a rasping, nebulous tangle of aggravation scraping against his gut—one that he could only try letting out with a hoarse scream._

* * *

“Sniflheim…” Erik finally began, “…it’s not my home, not really. Me and Mia, we grew up nearby, and we’ve been around the city enough to make it seem like we lived here, but we—the Vikings, they didn’t.” His eyes shifted to the left past Serena’s, gazing to the west. “I…I’m pretty sure nobody else spotted it in the haze, but when we sailed past that headland in the northwest to get here, there’s a small inlet leading to a cove… That’s where the Vikings make their hideout.

“I don’t even know why the heck they call it a hideout. It’s not like nobody knows it’s their home turf, since every now and then a Sniflheimer ends up visiting…and most of them don’t like what they see. Even still, most of the locals don’t think they’re bad people, as backwards as it sounds…probably because a handful of them actually aren’t bad at all, they buy and trade the stuff they need like anyone else. But whenever the leading guys came to visit…some kind of trouble usually followed them.

“Whenever they came back from raiding some far-flung place on the northern coasts, they always made a point of dropping by the city to celebrate. Even though they scared half the people they came across, they had always set aside some share of the treasure they looted to offer to the royal family—so if the kingdom could get something out of it while not getting too banged up, why bother snuffing them out?” Erik bitterly shook his head. “Those are usually the only times the men visit, but they’re so rowdy that Sniflheimers are always whispering about them…and they can pick out someone living with them without much trouble. And since me and Mia had to help sail their ships, whenever they came to the city, we came along with them.”

He paused. A deep, distant pain flashed in his eyes, before returning to their former unease a moment later. “Even though we were slaves like any other kid or newbie in the clan, we always ended up being the odd ones out, one way or another. I’d always figured we’d never really get away without them hunting us down like another piece of treasure—but eventually, I managed to move us out of the hideout, and we started living on our own in another cave nearby.

“Most of the clan started treating us worse after that. The chief refused to let any of them share any food or supplies with us, so I had to start scrounging around and make trips to the city on my own so we could get by. I didn’t care. I was already plenty bitter from how bad things had always been, but Mia…I wasn’t ever sure with her. She’s a girl, so she actually could’ve had a decent life with them without doing much if she grew up there, but she could be just as angry at them as I was sometimes.”

Erik lifted his gaze to the gates. “It’s been five years since I was here last, but I’m sure most of the locals would recognize me…and Mia too, since she always wanted to tag along with me. She got along with the Sniflheimers her age okay enough, so I kept on taking her…but you know how those usually turn out.”

He shook his head again before lowering it. “Even if she wasn’t one of the brutes bringing home the gold…she loved the stuff. Way too much. I…I always promised her we’d go on a treasure hunt on our own if we ever got away from them somehow, even let her hold onto what I got from raids occasionally, but that was it. I never really liked indulging her, but she’d never keep quiet about it, so I didn’t really have a choice to keep her satisfied sometimes.

“And that…” Erik faltered, sorrow creeping into his expression. “…that…that’s how I ended up kil—_no_, cursing her.”

Serena breathed in sharply, realizing the implication of his initial phrase. His own dear sister, forever taken away from him by his own deeds… As profoundly unthinkable as it seemed, Serena could easily imagine how it would feel were she or Veronica to lose the other—and the thought absolutely terrified her.

But she noticed how uncertain he was about his words. She’d been warned of the calamitous effects of curses before, had even seen their companions afflicted by a few that were quickly sheened away by Rab—but she’d never known they could outright kill someone.

A memory appeared in her mind’s eye, how outwardly uneasy Erik had become when Eleven had stumbled upon a cursed relic in the ruins of Zwaardsrust. Serena asked, “She’s…she’s not still alive, is she?”

Erik let out a quivering breath, shaking his head once more. “I don’t even _know_. I—” He trailed off, his eyes wavering. For a few moments, Serena thought she was have to pique him again, but his gaze settled before he started speaking again. “A couple weeks before, I had come back from a raid at an abandoned pirates’ den. Our birthday had passed while I was gone, and she’d stayed out of trouble when I’d been out of it for a while, so I thought she at least deserved something for that.

“There was this necklace I’d found. It was old, and rusty, with a flower-shaped pendant and set with a bunch of rubies, nothing really out of the ordinary. When I first picked it up, I had a really terrible feeling for a second—the same Sylv said he’d felt back in the mural—but it was gone as quick as it came. I thought about putting it back, but the other guys there thought it’d be funny if I came away with just that, so I held onto it.

“I _shouldn’t_ have. Not at all. I—” He cut himself off, his eyes momentarily narrowing in frustration. “When I got back, I gave it to her thinking it would be a normal necklace…but when she put it on, it gave her the power to magically turn things she wanted into gold—real, solid, shining gold.

“You wouldn’t believe how happy she was with the stupid thing. It was like she’d gotten everything she’d ever dreamed of—and she acted like it, too. It took a few days to get her to not go too crazy with it, but she actually kept staying out of trouble with the clan like I wanted her to still. Not to mention, the things she did change to gold brought a bunch of extra money for us—so for a little while, it seemed like things would be okay.

“But that was never enough for her. She started scrounging around and turning random things into gold, then important stuff like what little dishes and food we had. When I kept telling her how she was being even greedier than before, she just shrugged it off, wouldn’t even let me touch the stupid necklace.

“After a while I wasn’t even sure what to _do_. I kept telling her to stop, but she just kept going, but I couldn’t get used to it, and we kept going around in so many circles—until one day, I just snapped at her, and she suddenly started wising up to things. She said she’d stop turning things to gold for a while, and I was so _sure_ things would actually be all right—but when she tried taking off the necklace to prove it, she couldn’t, and then—” Erik sniffled, his voice beginning to shake, “The necklace started turning _Mia_ into _gold_.”

He stiffened, clenching his hands on the stone. “I—I tried a bunch of different things to get it off her in time, but none of them _worked_. I’m pretty sure the last idea I had would’ve done _something_, but I was too much of a coward to get close enough to her—and by the time I tried, she was completely encased in gold, necklace and everything.

“Except—” Erik let out a choked breath. “Except, that shouldn’t have even happened in the first place. When I _found_ the thing in that stupid pirate’s den, there was a journal with that exact same necklace—it didn’t mention it was cursed, I figured that out on my own later—but I’d already _felt_ that cursed aura. I should’ve _known_ it would’ve done that to her. I should’ve just tossed it back with the rest of that stupid treasure, but I _didn’t_.” His expression darkened. “Goddess, I’m such an _idiot_.”

He uttered every word with the utmost certainty, and Serena found it appalling to hear. “But Erik, you couldn’t have known the necklace was cursed before,” she assured him.

Erik groaned in response. “That’s not even the _worst_ part,” he snapped, his voice rising. “I left it all behind after that—Mia, the Vikings, Sniflheim, _all_ of it. I wanted to forget it all, so I ran away—wandering around Goddess knows where, trying to find a new life, thinking I could get away from chasing after gold and treasure.

“Instead, I threw myself into every stupid caper that came my way, and before I knew it, I was living as a thief—trying to forget everything by doing the _exact same_ thing that cursed her.” A bitter anger smoldered in his eyes. “I bet she’s _still_ stuck in the same spot now, gathering rust and snow in that dingy hole. If she ever got out, she’d hate me—and I deserve it. _I_ should’ve been the one who got turned into a stupid statue, not her. I’m such a—”

Realization passed over Erik’s face, and he cut himself off with another groan. He hung his head. “I _hate_ this so much,” he said ruefully.

Confused and even more disheartened, it took a moment for Serena to ask, “Hate what?”

_“This!”_ Erik snarled. “Every single time I _think_ about this stuff, I get so _angry_. I feel like I need to hit something, but I can’t ever bring myself to do it—so I just cycle through my worries until I’m a nervous wreck. I just—hate _something_, or some_one_, and I can’t ever figure out why.”

Serena remembered one of their nights on the ship, where he had mentioned a similar, if not the same sentiment. She’d been so fixated on gaining Erik’s love that she hadn’t realized it might be the key to why he was so aggravated now—and as awful as it seemed, she knew she had to push him forward. “Then Erik, you need to ask yourself, what do you hate so much? The Vikings?”

Resentment flashed across Erik’s face again, but it quickly fell into guilt. “I mean—yeah, but—I _don’t_ like them, but I don’t outright hate them—I might as well be one of them still.”

“Could it be someone from Heliodor?”

“I don’t know! A few people there were jerks, but nothing was bad enough to get me _this_ furious.”

Regret flickered in Erik’s eyes as he spoke, and Serena’s pulse quickened. She was nearing the answer, she knew it. “The other thieves you worked with?”

“I—I guess, but—I never got in thick enough with Derk or anyone else to get too worked up.”

“Veronica?”

“No—she reminds me of Mia, but it’s not the same—”

“Is it Mia herself, then?”

“N—no, it _couldn’t_ ever be her—”

“Me?”

“_No_—Rena, I can’t—”

“Then _who_, Erik?” Serena sternly asked. “Who do you hate so much?”

Something cracked in Erik’s expression, and he screamed, _“I hate myself, okay!”_

The unbridled emotion in his voice made Serena flinch—then a moment later he was hunched over and trembling, tears falling away from his eyes.

“I loved her so much,” Erik sobbed, covering his face with a hand. “Then I cursed her, then I ran away and left her behind in that cave, then I stopped caring about her. If she were alive, she’d be so _upset_, and I—I don’t want to do that to you, or anyone else ever again. I’d never live it down."

He lowered his hand, his eyes stricken with sorrow, but he turned his face away from her, as if refusing any comfort. “So please, Rena…just…go. Don’t…don’t even bother with me anymore. You don’t need to put in a bunch of effort…just so I can throw it all away.”

His words were like needles pressed against Serena’s skin, and a tear brimmed in her eye. “Erik…you don’t know that,” she pointed out, weakly shaking her head. “You’re only being much too hard on yourself.”

“I—I know,” Erik answered, still shaking. “Eleven picked that out not too long ago, but…it doesn’t explain why this all _hurts_ so much.”

He continued to cry, and Serena looked away, could only bring herself to sit and consider things. By then, she knew for certain that Erik had never lied to her, that he had only continued what he had always done—hiding his feelings away, because they pained him so.

And yet, she found little relief in the revelation. Even if he had only withheld things from her, Jade and Veronica’s words from before still lingered in the edge of her mind. If he had been so unwilling to tell her all this before, that same reluctance which with he told her the truth with could easily turn into a lie, Serena knew. How much would it weigh upon her, if he deliberately lied to her, or if he suddenly did abandon her? Would she be just as broken as he believed? Would her fears hollow her out until there was nothing left? Would it be worth it, then, to continue loving him?

Serena turned her gaze upon Erik again. She noticed, strangely, that his crying wasn’t as audible that evening at Lonalulu, weeks ago. His sobs sounded more like shivers, and though the air wasn’t nearly as frigid as it had been for the last few days, Serena knew all the sorrow in his heart made him more vulnerable to the cold.

Despite the hand covering his face, Serena knew what his eyes would look like. But she still found herself wondering.

Were they tears for her?

Were they tears for his real sister?

Did it even matter?

Blinking against her own tears, Serena wrapped her arms around Erik and pulled him into an embrace—and he wrapped his around her in turn, planting his head on her shoulder. As she felt his tears against her skin, her hand cradling the locks of his hair, his cold and frail and convulsive body leaning against hers, she found she simply didn’t care. Maybe he would lie to her. Maybe he would hide important things from her, things that were important to them both. Maybe he would stay away from her, for either of their sakes, shattering her dreams and forcing them to burrow into her forevermore. Whatever happened, the only thing she could do is hope they could reconcile, and try to truly understand what they did. She _could_ fault him—but she also believed she could forgive him, and that would be enough.

After some time Erik’s shaking began to settle, and Serena slowly released her arms from him, reluctantly savoring the sensation of it. Erik cried the last of his tears as he drew back from her, his expression still narrowed and uncertain. That could only mirror Serena’s own doubts—as his words from before echoed in her mind, she wondered if what she she would say next could change things.

“I love you, Erik,” Serena said. After holding it in for so long, merely saying it seemed to relieve her of an enormous pressure. “I… All this time, I had been so enthralled that the idea of you choosing to love me, without any obligations—even in spite of how much of a burden I can be. And that’s still wholly true now…even if we might not share the same kind of love.

“You say you stopped caring about Mia, but I don’t think that’s it at all. You’ve _always_ cared, even when you bottled everything up as a thief. You care, so _much,_ that you can’t help being scared—scared of others thinking less if you if they know what you did, scared that you’ll never fix your problems, scared that you won’t be able to forgive yourself—so things seem so much worse to you that they truly are. And with all the sorrow you’ve caused yourself, maybe that might be a problem on its own, but I…I just find that so touching. I want to always be there to remind you of that, to assure you that you _can_ fix things.

“But…” She paused, her heart sinking. “…if you truly believe that we shouldn’t be as close—that’s okay. I’ll always be ready to help you with your worries if you ask for it—me, or any of our companions. I’m sure they’ll understand, if you’re willing to tell them.”

Serena fell silent, awaiting a response. Erik had perked up slightly in the middle of her spiel, but his expression remained distant, his glazed eyes seemingly searching for something. The sounds of the wind and the ocean wafted within her ears for nearly ten seconds as she waited.

When no answer was forthcoming, Serena said, “I’ll…I’ll be going back to our companions now.”

A hint of guilt crossed Erik’s face, but he said nothing still. Serena did her best to ignore it, and the disappointment that began hollowing her heart, despite everything. She had said what she needed to say, and though she wasn’t certain if she would be able to let it all go, Serena knew there was little choice in the matter, then. She got up from the boulder, the dampness of the rear and shoulder of her dress even more apparent, and started towards the gates to the city.

When she heard a shuffling and the crunch of snow on the cobblestones behind her, Serena’s heart skipped a beat—and then Erik’s gloved hand was grasping her wrist.

“Wait, Serena.”

* * *

It took a long moment for Serena to turn and face Erik. She looked down at his hand around her arm in disbelief, then up to meet his gaze. She let out low gasp when she saw the soft smile Erik felt growing on his face, then moved as if in a trance, her eyes never wavering from him as she slowly sat down beside him again. The expectancy in it was enough to make Erik sheepish as he gathered his words—so instead, he looked down as he slipped his hand into hers.

“Man…this is just the start of another big, dumb circle, isn’t it?” Erik said, shaking his head. “Me and Mia, then me and all my worries, and now me and you. A bunch of stupid circles where we keep going around punching each other in the gut, then trying to move past what happened like it’s okay.” Still recovering from his tears, he sniffed his humor. “Though..I guess the punching in the gut thing is just me, what with how long I’ve been at it.”

Erik shuffled through what he could remember, wondering if he could pick out the moment when it all began. They stretched back so far in his life, even before Mia’s cursing, that he was pretty sure he would never find an answer. Not like it really mattered.

“I bet all the cageyness I’ve had with you and everyone else has to do with that, too,” Erik continued. “Enough people have been ragging on me for so long, it’s easy to believe everyone I meet is just gonna pile on more—but I’m pretty sure I’m not even thinking about it now, just assuming everybody will, and trying to act like I don’t care.” He sighed. “I probably shouldn’t care about it so much. It’s weird to even think that I do…if it’s not just me hating myself. Wonder if I’ll ever get past it.”

There were other things he cared about now, though. His friends, helping Eleven reach his destiny—and hopefully, getting forgiveness for cursing his sister. Now, though…one of those didn’t seem quite right.

“Mia…” Despite his affirmation, Erik felt a tiny, prickling sadness. “I’ve always figured I’d never be able to forgive myself for getting her turned to gold. Part of the reason I’m even on this crazy adventure in the first place is because some mystical Seer said I was supposed to meet Eleven, and I’d have to help him if I ever wanted to get forgiveness. We’ve gotten this far, so I’d always figured that he’d get some kind of power that could save her from the curse somehow, then I'd be forgiven, and that’d be it. But…I’m not sure if that’s the only thing I need anymore.”

He thought back to what Serena had said minutes ago. “Maybe…maybe I _can_ try to forgive myself.” Even when he said it out loud, it sounded like a near-impossible idea. “I don’t think I’ll ever be fully okay if there’s a chance I can save Mia still. But…maybe if I can at least start trying to go easy on myself for everything else, all the other times I’ve screwed up…maybe her being stuck like she is won’t seem as terrible.”

Erik paused, raising his gaze to meet Serena’s. She stared at him breathlessly, her face fixed with a starstruck disbelief, just like all the yearning characters she described from her favorite stories. A warmth began to sprout in his chest, and his smile grew along with it.

“Serena…I don’t think I would’ve figured out any of this without you,” he said. His cheeks began to warm despite himself, and he looked away again. “Goddess, it feels almost too mushy to say this, but…you’re like a big ray of sunshine—bright enough for it to be nice in, but just hot enough that I know I need to move around to get more comfortable sometimes. I guess in this case Mia would be a humid day, and Veronica would probably be the sun itself, right?”

Erik glanced back at Serena, his comparison lost on her still-starstruck look. As silly and out of place as it seemed, it was just like her—she probably didn’t want to ruin the moment.

He sighed. “I’ve always gone around and around in a bunch of circles with those two. As nasty as the bickering can get, at least it stops with just that. Meanwhile, even though we barely have, we might as well be running circles around each other—getting skittish over stupid things, and keeping away when we know we want to go back. I don’t want us to keep spinning around like that anymore.” Erik’s pulse skipped at what he said next. “I love you, Serena.”

His words were like a magic spell, Serena’s expression shifting slightly as she blinked out of her trance. “You mean…like…?” she breathed, leaving the _“romantically?”_ left unsaid.

Erik’s gaze fell to her hand in his again. “Yeah…I think it does,” he answered, meeting her eyes.

A very long second passed as a wide, jubilant grin stretched across Serena’s face—and then Erik was nearly bowled over as she threw herself onto him with a giddy “Yay!”, wrapping her arms around him in another hug. “Oh, thank you, Erik, thank you!” Serena beamed, burying her face in his chest.

The sheer surprise was enough to throw Erik off for a few moments, but he hugged her back all the same. “I don’t know why you’re thanking me, Rena…” he chuckled. “You’re the one who did most of the heavy lifting through all this.”

Serena giggled, her breath fluttering against his chest. She lifted her head up to meet his gaze, her lavender eyes glazed over and shining. “Well…Veronica always complains all the romances I like are rather old-fashioned like that.”

“Yeah? Well, that’s fine with me.” Erik shrugged his shoulders. “It’s not like I’ve got much of a clue how to tell the difference, anyway.”

Serena laughed again, a light, melodic sound, and Erik couldn’t help but laugh too, their voices mingling over the wind. He cradled Serena’s head against his chest once more, and a thrill tingled through him when she leaned further into the hug, feeling the pattering of her heart against his. Though the surrounding air was bitingly cold, it quickly slipped away from his mind. The warmth of their love radiated between them like a tiny sun—and for Erik, it was as if he was finally seeing, hearing, and feeling Serena for the first time. As the wind began to ease, they remained enveloped by each other for a while, surrounded by a soft, whispering silence.

At some point Erik, decided to close his eyes and lose track of time, to better savor the moment. Eventually though, his skin began to prickle as he felt the gaze of someone else on them, followed by a distant “Hm…so does that mean nobody wins the bet now?”

Serena’s gasp mirrored Erik’s own surprise. They pulled back from each other and turned to find the rest of the party standing before the gates, staring straight at them. Everyone’s expressions held some degree of satisfaction: Eleven’s smile was wider than it usually got, Jade’s proud grin wasn’t far away from how Serena’s was earlier, Rab stroked his mustache as if he was looking at nothing out of the ordinary, and Sylvando’s was slightly diluted by his questioning eyes.

Even Veronica managed to hold an exasperated smile as she looked at Erik, but it quickly wavered as she shook her head at Sylvando’s question. “Oh for Yggdrasil’s sake, isn’t it completely obvious?” Her eyes shifted to her sister, and she pointedly asked, “Serena, which one of you said _‘I love you’_ first?”

Serena’s cheeks immediately blushed a bright red, and she awkwardly turned to look at Erik. “I—well…erm…”

“See?” Veronica sighed like she was suddenly much older than she looked. “Congrats, Grandad.”

Sylvando let out a crestfallen “Aw…” as Rab chuckled his gratification. “Never wager a joker when a two’ll do it, lad.”

“Believe me, I think both guesses would’ve been fair with those softies,” Veronica answered.

It took a moment for Erik to realize she was talking about him as well—but before he could speak up, Jade beat him to the punch. “So, Veronica, it seems everything’s patched up between Erik and your sister like you wanted it to be, hm?” she asked dryly.

Veronica’s cheeks reddened, and she released an embarrassed whimper before pulling her bonnet down over her face.


	25. Thawing, Fluttering, Questing

“Are you sure this will be alright, Erik?” Serena’s voice asked from beside him. Over all the profoundly familiar sensations Erik was aware of them—frigid winds moaning in his ears and dragging across his skin, saltwater suffusing his stuffy nose, the cold taffrail of a ship gripped in his hands—her voice sounded as if it were far, far away.

The seascape before Erik was just as he remembered, a bay ringed by snow-covered ridges rising from the ocean, an enormous cluster icy spires jutting out from the distant shore, and a cove nestled within the crags to its left. Instead of a Viking longship, the only vessel sailing further into the bay was the _Stallion_’s dinghy. Without him or Serena stuffed aboard with their friends, there was plenty enough space for Erik to see them huddled together in the small sailboat. He could still make out Veronica’s face as she glanced back at them staying on the _Stallion_, but the rest of the party continued to chat and look straight ahead at their destination, unaware of what they were heading into.

Or, at least mostly unaware. The so-called Minister of Viking Affairs, the same guy who’d managed to teach Erik how to read all those years ago, had tipped Eleven off about a missing tribute to Sniflheim Castle as he was probing around town the day before. Their description of the Vikings had been off-putting for Rab and Veronica, even with assurances that the clan was friendly to visitors, but since there was no arguing with El when he wanted to be a busybody, the party was headed to see the “roughness and rowdiness” for themselves.

Somehow, their companions hadn’t heard much about his reconciliation with Serena the day before, or even asked about it afterwards, probably thinking it was just something between them. Neither of them were sure if it were better this way, but they at least agreed it would be a little while before Erik would want to give them the full picture. At least then, he figured, nobody would want to peg them as something to be messed with while they were still in the region.

Erik knew he didn’t belong on that boat. “Rough and rowdy” would probably become a terrible understatement as soon as someone from the clan recognized him, or maybe even if he saw one of them. And yet, lingering under all the bitterness he had for his old keepers, a tiny part of himself wished he was headed towards the hideout with his companions.

Of course, being back on the bay after so long felt like coming home—except he didn’t want to call the Vikings anything resembling a home for himself anymore. But after growing up there, Erik still couldn’t help harboring all the old questions someone would have after being away for years.

Had anything changed about his old clan of keepers? Erik knew most of them would never stray far from where they’d always roamed, but Chief Eldar had been getting on in age before he left, and a new chief sometimes came to shake up old traditions. If Eldar stepped down, which one of the serkers would’ve taken up the helm in his place? From what Erik remembered, Eldar’s son would be next in line, but he was sure a few of the others would’ve challenged him for it as soon as they got the chance: Ingvar, Vestri, Østen, and no doubt Haukur. Were they, or all the serkers that were there when Erik left even around still? Just because they could go through hordes of monsters without the constant honing him or his companions had gotten over their journey, didn’t mean they were invincible on their raids.

And what about everyone else, the people who made sure the clan could actually function? Did any of the other slaves Erik toiled alongside move up in the clan, or did they make their own escape attempts? Erik knew he wasn’t the first, and that most of the serkers wouldn’t have cared much about another hole they could eventually fill; but what about Lief or the other sundurs, or even Frieda and Signe and the other women? Would any of them even have missed him?

By the time he had pondered those questions, the party’s boat was almost behind the bay’s western ridge. Erik caught one more glimpse of Veronica, squeezing herself beside Dave at the dinghy’s steering oar to give him and Serena one last concerned look, the same soft expression she held whenever she was fretting over her sister, just before the boat disappeared from view.

Erik felt a pang of his own concern then. None of his questions about what he might find in the hideout could even compare to the importance of what lie beyond it: Mia’s statue. Would she still be frozen where he had left her, rusted and crumbling away after weathering five years of sitting in that cave? Or had their old keepers checked their shelter when they realized he was gone? Erik had made sure getting in wasn’t obvious, but it wasn’t difficult, either—and as nice as her statue being spared from the elements sounded, the next idea of her getting tossed along with the rest of the Viking’s plundered trophies brought him a twinge of disgust. She didn’t deserve that, but it wasn’t like there were any better options.

He couldn’t answer any of those questions, standing there on the _Stallion_. If it involved going back to see his old keepers, even for a short time, Erik wasn’t sure if he wanted to find any answers. He’d told himself he was _done_ with anything having to do with the Vikings, and if there was any promise that he wouldn’t break now, it was that.

But after all the realizations he had come to, maybe it was time for him to make a new kind of promise.

Erik’s pulse skipped as he felt the warmth of a hand atop his on the taffrail. His reverie broken, Erik looked to his left at Serena. Seeing her as they lingered in the middle of the sea, he couldn’t help thinking back to her first encounter with his worries at Lonalulu—but instead of a gentle smile, her expression was lined with a solemn concern. Serena held his gaze for a few seconds, then squeezed his hand, the knowing in her eyes silently repeating her question.

Despite her concern, Erik felt as if he needed to smile at Serena in response. Not the wobbly, secretive kind from when she’d chased after him the day before, but to give her some reassurance. She’d done so much of that for him over the past month thta he could make peace with Mia’s fate despite everything, that it felt a little odd for her to still be worried about him now. He was still a long way from being okay, and definitely thankful for pointing him towards a way to get there—but he wasn’t sure if a smile would sincerely return the favor.

Instead, Erik let out a sigh. “I don’t know, Serena.”

* * *

“…but how could yer average folk like that lad even hope to make their way across those frozen wilds?” As footsteps began to patter up the stairs, Rab faltered and looked past Erik with curiosity. “Och, I reckon that might be our servers coming up this way…”

At a tap from Serena, Erik was quick to throw up his hood as a mixture of smells began filling his nose, hiding his face as the mead hall’s barkeep and bunny girl servers made their way to the upper floor. “Very well, wanderers, your meals are ready for you…”

Glasses were shuffled across the pair of tables as the servers moved to the center of the room, deftly hefting different dishes in their hands. Erik kept his head down as Sniflheim’s long-serving barkeep turned to the table he shared with Serena and Eleven. “For you, sir, a helping of traditional Sniflheimer _fiskesuppe_,” he said, earning a grateful nod from Eleven as he set it down before the Luminary, “…and for you, ma’am, your portion of strawberry apple pie,” eliciting an eager squeal from Serena as he placed it before her.

“Sweets for lunch again, Rena?” Sylvando asked from his table, chiming out a “thank you” as the bunny girl placed a plate of smoked salmon in front of him.

To his left, Veronica produced a snort. “You’re surprised at that? There’s a half-dozen different desserts on this menu, and she picks something that any of us could whip up on the ship! What gives?”

Serena paused, already in the middle of cutting a piece of pie. “Well, I had already settled upon a pie when I saw a sailor eating one as we came in, but the selection was limited to just this and something that sounded much too sour…” Her eyes gained an edge of nervousness as they flickered towards Erik. “And plus, I do want to be mindful of what I’m sharing with others…” Veronica rolled her eyes with a groan, and Serena’s cheeks tinged pink in response.

“Oh come on, you two, let them have their fun,” Jade said, nodding as the bunny girl set a basket of steaming bread rolls before her. To her right, Rab quickly reached into the basket to pick one out—but not without fruitily looking at the bunny girl while suggestively squeezing his roll. His gesture didn’t escape Jade’s notice, and the resulting glare was enough to make him guiltily slump back into his chair.

The bunny girl giggled at Rab as she turned away, rejoining the barkeep as he surveyed the room before asking, “Does everything seem to be in order, wanderers?” After an assortment of affirmatives from the party, the servers departed back down the stairs.

Erik breathed out his relief as he pulled down his hood—drawing another suspicious glance from Veronica as she bit into her half-eaten wedge of cheese. She’d settled for just that instead of a full lunch, along with risking a fair bit more to drink than she’d ever go for with her child-sized body. Not too long after he and her sister had sorted out their troubles the day before, Erik had fibbed that a scheme he’d been a part of in the city had gone south and needed to keep his face hidden at Serena’s suggestion. Everyone had accepted his explanation without many questions, including Veronica—but for whatever reason, her usual crankiness towards him had been on the rise since then.

Both their attentions were drawn at an audible sigh from Rab, wistfully looking down at the roll he’d taken a bite from. “Ach, another establishment that seems to have forgotten the heat it takes to make a properly fired morning roll…by now I reckon I’ll never come across another cook who holds onto the auld Drasilian staples.”

Erik, the only one without some food of his own, made an appeasing shrug. “Seems like any special way of making food would have a hard time sticking around if the place they came from got destroyed,” he pointed out.

“Madame Croque from Académie seemed to know the texture that you described for her in some of the breads she made for you though, didn’t she?” Serena asked.

“Aye, that she did, but that was with those scratchier-looking stick ‘o breads—and plus, nothing will ever replace the puffiness of a properly fired breakfast bap!” Rab chimed. He held his roll out towards Sylvando. “Would ye mind doing the honors, Sylv?”

“Rabbie darling, I’m not risking what happened last time over another meal,” Sylvando answered, raising another forkful of salmon to his mouth.

“Hyeh hyeh, at least one of yer rare slip-ups kept me plenty warm that night, didn’t it?”

“I don’t know how _that_ could be considered a slip-up from me if you weren’t already six cups of mead in and couldn’t hold still,” the jester replied, earning a chuckle from Jade.

“Oh, don’t you two get started—come on, Grandad, give it here,” Veronica cut in, gesturing towards a clean plate. Rab put his bread roll on a plate for it to be passed across the table towards her. The little mage cupped a hand above the bread and summoned a small flame with a _whoomph_; and after holding there for a few seconds she removed her hand from a roll with a near-fully-blackened crust. Veronica blithely passed the plate back across the table, and the old king of Dundrasil was quick to take a delighted bite from the blackened bread.

Erik couldn’t help shaking his head at yet another example of Rab’s eccentric tastes. The room fell silent for a time as everyone began to dig into their lunches, and he let his mind for a while—but eventually an audible slurp from Erik’s left drew his attention to Eleven. The Luminary had already knocked off a sizable portion of his fiskesuppe in just a couple minutes, and an idle embarrassment appeared on El’s face as he raised another spoonful of soup to his mouth.

“You sure are hungry for something that isn’t exactly your favorite kind of food, aren’t you?” Erik asked.

Eleven shrugged, his look turning quizzical. _They aren’t that different from each other._

“Yeah? What’s the difference between a soup and stew, anyway?”

“The difference between them can be rather minute,” Serena chimed in, “but a stew typically has larger ingredients along with a thicker liquid for them to sit in.”

Erik inspected the sizable pieces of fish and carrots and onions floating in the thick, creamy mixture. “Looks too much like a stew to me to be called a ‘suppe.’”

Eleven tapped a few bits of fish and veggies with his spoon before twirling it in the air. _As long as there’s some liquid with edible things floating around in it, doesn’t matter what it’s called to me._

“Alright then,” Erik chuckled, shaking his head again. Like eccentric grandfather, like even more eccentric grandson, he figured.

“You’re sure you still don’t want anything to eat, Erik?” Jade asked, holding her own half-eaten bread roll.

Erik waved a hand. “Nah, I’m not that hungry—and plus, I’ve already had plenty of food from this city before.”

“What about some of its desserts?” Serena held up a fork in Erik’s vision following her question, and he turned to find another of her shyly eager smiles, a smaller portion of pie already separated for him.

If the twinge of affection wasn’t enough, Erik’s stomach growled a little as he stared at the glistening red fruits lining the sides of the pastry—with a nervous prod following as he felt their companions’ eyes on him as well. “Okay, maybe a little bit,” Erik conceded, accepting a fork and cutting himself a piece of pie.

“Oh, so _now_ he gets all hungry when his _lover_ offers to feed him,” Veronica grouched.

“Ronnie, is it really good time to rain on their parade when they just sorted their business out?” Sylvando asked.

“I’m not raining on anyone’s parade! I’m just saying he doesn’t need to be so coy when it’s obvious he likes it when she wants to spoil him!”

“Considering all the times your sister goes out of her way to tailor your portions of our meals every time she cooks,” Jade chimed in, “I think it’s fair to say she’s spoiled you just like any tender lover would, hasn’t she?” Erik chuckled his agreement, drawing laughs from Rab and Sylvando as well, and Veronica made a frustrated grumbly sound before taking another sip of her mead.

“Och, don’t be so flustered, lassie,” Rab said when he recovered. “Having a sister who cares for ye as much as Serena does to make your meals exactly how ye want them isn’t anything to be embarrassed about. And that goes for you two, laddie,” he added with a glance at Erik.

Erik paused in raising another slice of pie to his mouth. “Yeah, I guess,” he agreed.

Rab chuckled again at his self-fulfilling statement before going on. “Even if ye don’t think ye need it, everyone deserves a chance to have someone be generous to them. Just look at how well auld Edith made a codger like me turn out!” The old king paused again, his expression turning contemplative. “Ye know, I still don’t think it was well fair for Krystalinda to turn down that poor lad who was up here with that mince of a task she put on him.”

“It wasn’t like she needed to in the first place,” Veronica spoke up. “If she could already tell that man was too lazy enough to even go out and get the rose, she could’ve just flat out told him no.”

Jade produced a thoughtful hum. “Telling anyone to trek across those frigid tundras on their own just to get a small token of their affection is too much for your average person, but I think the ‘unseasoned’ metaphor works for how clever it is.”

“If you ask me, I think that man seemed determined enough to win Krystalinda’s hand,” Sylvando said. “Can you imagine what would’ve happened if there weren’t any nasty beasties or snowstorms to get in his way? Love blossoming between a human and a witch…that’d be another good storybook tale, eh, Rena?”

Serena’s smile was more contemplative than energetic. “Well, I think any sort of love between two people would likely have some snags for them to work out, even in the most auspicious-seeming romance…”

“Given how Krystalinda seemed to put that man up to her task, I think she could already tell anything between them would be less-than-auspicious.” Jade said, crossing her arms. “I certainly wouldn’t have been interested if someone approached me like that.”

“Come on, darling—there’s no way you wouldn’t be flattered if someone were brave enough to confess their love for you out the blue, now, would you?” Sylvando asked.

“Actually—” Jade kissed two of her fingers and blew the heart that formed into a corner of the room, “—I think I’ve had more than enough unnecessary flattery a woman needs to deal with in her lifetime, thanks.”

“Well, what would you do if someone’s flattery you did enjoy actually confessed to you?” Veronica asked.

Jade shrugged. “I’d simply decide if they were actually worthy enough for my love or not.”

“Spoken like a true queen,” Rab chuckled.

Her answer was enough for Veronica—but a mischievous glint flashed in Sylvando’s eyes. “Hmmm, is that because you’re so picky-and-choosy about who you’d want to love like a true ruler…or is it because it’d be too awkward for someone like you?” he suggestively jested.

Erik, already keyed into where things were going, couldn’t help a low chuckle—and an unsteady edge marred Jade’s usually placid expression. “Just because I’ve had enough forced encounters with false fronts doesn’t mean I can’t tell when someone’s being genuine.”

“Oh, Jade—the way you’re so blasé about most things, someone would wonder if you’re always thinking about things in royal court terms all the time!” Sylvando pointed out. “I know you like to go at life sensibly, but honestly—someone could tenderly ask for _your_ hand in marriage and you’d probably think they were even more suspicious than Erik could ever be!”

A pair of giggles from Serena and Veronica drowned out Erik’s grumpy “Hey…”, but Jade remained unfazed. “Oh please, as if you wouldn’t get into your own kind of trouble if someone confessed to you. You’d get carried away so quickly by preparations for a gaudy ceremony that you wouldn’t realize you were being stolen from until you were left alone at the altar!”

Her riposte earned another chuckle from Erik and a louder laugh from Veronica—and even Eleven released a laugh of his own, drawing everyone’s notice. “Och, I think we all know who the winner of this little barney is…” Rab declared.

Sylvando’s bearing had wilted as if Jade had struck a soft spot, and he puffed out a petulant sigh. “Okay, you got me there,” he conceded.

“If it makes you feel any better, Sylvando, I think I’d probably end up in the same situation,” Serena consoled.

Sylvando’s eyes were distant, but a wan smile grew on his face. “I appreciate that, darling—but I think you’ve gotten lucky enough where you won’t have to worry about any ceremonies or getting stolen from anytime soon.”

“Thanks?” Erik said, unsure if Sylv meant to compliment him or not.

“Sylvando, how in the world could _you_ have fuddled up any brush with love?” Veronica prodded.

“Oh, you don’t need to worry about any boring old stories about a younger and scattered me,” Sylvando answered with a wave of his hand. “The only thing you need to know is that I bounced back from _that_ mishap with an even greater resolve to spread joy to everyone I meet!”

Veronica produced a snort. “You can’t just hint towards some sob story like that without at least telling us how things played out!”

“Now now, Veronica, let’s not mess with everyone’s moods by going too deep into past muckiness, eh? Hows about we brighten things up a little by asking how our latest lovebirds found their spark, eh?” Rab chimed, turning to Erik and Serena. “Och, I’m sure the first smooch between ye two was a magical experience, wasnae it?”

Erik froze, his pulse sputtering as six sets of curious eyes fell on him. When he glanced at Serena to see the plain embarrassment on her face, his neck began to itch. “Uh…what?” he breathed.

“Your first kiss with Serena,” Jade asked, confused. “What was it like?”

Erik’s eyes flickered to Serena again, her cheeks already a bright red. “Um…we haven’t had one yet.”

There was a long, awkward silence. The only sounds that could be heard were the creaking of chairs as their friends fidgeted in their seats, their expressions wavering between worry and bewilderment.

“Wait wait wait wait wait wait _wait_,” Veronica’s baffled blurts cut through the silence. “You’re telling me you two were fawning over each other for—what, at least a month?—and neither of you even bothered to try kissing the other?”

“I mean…I wouldn’t call what was happening up until now fawning…but yeah,” Erik answered, indulging his itch.

Veronica worked her mouth fruitlessly for a couple seconds, then turned to her sister. “Serena. You can’t tell me you weren’t thinking about giving him even a _tiny_ peck on the cheek when you were huddled together on the ship every night.”

Serena’s look grew even more flustered, and she stared down into her lap as if being scolded. “Y-yes, I did…” she mumbled. “Many, many times…”

Another lengthy silence streched between them, and Veronica’s gaze wavered between her sister and Erik as if they’d both eaten a rockbomb shard. “You’re hopeless, you know that? Both of you.” She grabbed her cup and tipped herself tipped herself backwards as she took a longer drink of her mead, looking disappointed when she had gulped the rest of it down. “I need some more to drink. Come on, Grandad.” Without meeting anyone’s gaze, Veronica hopped down from her seat and headed for the stairs, and while Rab looked as if he wanted to protest he was soon following after the tiny mage.

Erik watched them go down the stairs, but when he turned back to Eleven and Sylvando and Jade, all their confused gazes were still focused on him. “What? Is it that weird that we haven’t bothered to kiss each other yet?”

“I’m just surprised at how long you’ve have been enamored with each other for nothing to have gotten physical yet,” Jade said. “There’s been a fair bit of opportunities for things to get very sensual between you two, and yet…”

Erik glanced back at Serena once more, and when he saw the question on her lips he couldn’t help looking away. “The thought’s crossed my mind before, but I haven’t wanted to act on it yet.”

“Really? At all?” Sylvando asked. “Honey, as handsome as you are, I can’t believe you haven’t gotten any pleasure out of it—and you’ve probably been around the world as much as I have! Are you…?”

“Wouldn’t that have made things really weird, really quick?” Erik said, unable to help the defensiveness in his voice. He sighed before speaking again. “Look, everyone in this room has their own appeals, and I’ve bedded my fair share of boys and girls when I was running around as a career criminal—but I was _not_ in the business of getting in deeper with anyone more than I had to, okay?” He paused, thinking back to all his brushes with lovemaking or when it was brought up by scoundrels in the business. “And ending up in bed with someone just because they showed you enough of their skin…or even the way everyone talked about things, thinking they were head over heels for someone just because they’d ogled over them while they were dressed in a bunny suit…it was fun while it happened, but it never sat right for long.”

“Oh, _trust_ me, honey, the way most folks talk about love, anyone with a different angle on things has plenty of trouble navigating their way through it,” Sylvando pointedly said. “So, what changed?”

Erik crossed his arms as he thought back over the past few months, but it didn’t take long for him to come up with some answers. “Things starting to look up,” he began, with a nod towards Eleven. “Feeling like I can trust everyone else. And…” He paused, a small smile growing along with a mote of warmth in his chest. “Well, I used to think it was because of all those stories Rena told me about, but…mostly because she cared so much, I guess.” Serena produced a gleeful, embarrassed giggle when he finished, and Erik couldn’t help scratching behind his head.

“Aww, that’s so sweet,” Jade chimed.

“Oh, it surely is,” Sylvando agreed, before looking back at Erik expectantly. “Well?”

“‘Well,’ what?” Erik asked, confused.

“Aren’t you going to return the favor and prove to her you care just as much? By…you know…”

Erik groaned. “Do we have to do this now? Heck, wouldn’t it be better if we saved it for a ‘special moment’ or something?”

“I think the window that would make this particular moment special passed a long time ago,” Jade giggled.

“Well, if that doesn’t even matter, what’s the point of proving you love someone with a kiss, or all the rest of those weird gestures?” Erik shrugged. “I can’t argue with everyone making a big fuss over how it all feels good, sure—but wouldn’t what you do for the love itself matter more in the long run?”

“Hmmm, you’ve got the right idea, honey—but like I said back at the Académie, if Rena’s gonna be so devoted to making you feel good, then you’re gonna have to do the same for her just as much if you want things to stay smooth.” Sylvando capped his advice with an eager twirl of his hands. “Sooooo…?”

Erik let out a sigh. In truth, he wasn’t nearly as nervous about kissing Serena herself as much as he was doing it in front of everyone else, but he knew there wasn’t any getting around that now. Scratching his neck again, he turned in his chair to meet her gaze.

Unsurprisingly, Serena’s look was just as nervous as he felt himself, rosy-cheeked and shakily-smiling, but when he saw the earnest, eager longing in her eyes, Erik’s heart began to pound. Unsure of what to say, Erik breathed out a “Hey, Rena.”

It took a long moment for Serena to respond with an “Um…hello, Erik,” her voice wavering. As soon as she finished, she began inching her face up to his, and Erik lowered himself to meet her in turn—and his heart fluttered the moment their lips met. The kiss was a slow, gentle affair at first; but mere seconds into it Erik’s breath hitched as a deep, long-forgotten ache arose in him. His mouth slightly parted, surprise jolted through him when Serena’s tongue was suddenly slipped inside close to his. Erik could feel all her tiny movements, every flicker laced with hunger, and even with the pleasure it brought the intense forwardness gave him the urge to pull away. Instead Serena leaned further against him, her hand falling on his shoulder sending another crackle of energy through him, and then—

“…en’t _you_ too _old_ to be _alive!?”_ Veronica’s voice was a distant thing in Erik’s ears, but a few seconds and tromps up the stairs later—_“SERENA!”_

She jerked herself back from Erik almost as abruptly as a liquid metal slime, and they both turned towards her sister, glaring at them from the top of the stairs. “Yggdrasil’s holy boughs, are you trying to suck this idiot’s soul from his body!?”

Serena didn’t answer, her face as red as her sister’s dress with a jumbled mixture of pleasure and mortification.

Veronica released a furious groan. “Honestly!” she growled, walking past them to her table then promptly taking another gulp from her mead when she was settled in her chair. Rab followed behind her shortly after, muttering a disappointed “Och, I suppose I missed the fun part,” as he made his way to his own seat.

Erik barely processed the exchange himself, his mind slowly catching up to the lack of Serena pressed against him. He took a moment to catch his breath before asking, “How was that?”

Serena’s look grew slightly less embarrassed, and she released a low sound of affirmation. His own smile growing, Erik scratched behind his head as he turned back to his companions, finding them with an even more varied assortment of expressions.

Jade blinked at Serena as if she suddenly turned into an ursa minor. “Well…that was quite her second go at it. You put a lot more enthusiasm into that compared to how I told you, didn’t you, Serena?”

Veronica’s gaze snapped to Jade with a furious surprise, but Sylvando’s excited squeal rung out before she could say anything. “First or second or third, it’s always wonderful to see two sweethearts putting their all into their affection!” he beamed. “I wonder if we’ll have a second pair of young lovebirds coming together before long, hm? Ronnie?”

“Sylvando, what nonsense are you playing at?” Veronica grouchily replied.

“Oh, don’t play dumb,” Sylvando replied, his smile growing suggestive. “We all saw you get all ‘soppy and soft’ when the leader of our merry band went down with a fever a couple days ago…”

Veronica’s gaze flickered across the room at Eleven, her anger dimming slightly, but she petulantly crossed her arms. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Laughter rose around the room at her obvious facade, and Veronica’s tinged pink in response. Sylvando turned to Eleven. “Ellie? Come on…”

Eleven, who had maintained an amused silence over the past few minutes, simply shrugged.

_“Excuse_ me!?” Veronica snapped, blushing even more. “How _could_ you—explain!”

A knowing glint entered the Luminary’s eyes, and he raised a hand to waggle a trio of his fingers around.

“You’ve got options…what!? What in the name of the seven sages is that supposed to mean!?”

* * *

“Madame Jade…” an elderly voice asked from behind them.

The warrior princess’s explanation to the Académie’s faculty interrupted, Serena and Veronica turned away from Madames de Beauvoir and Labouche standing at the edge of the entrance hall to find another teacher, a lady with a hunched posture in a simple turquoise dress wth grey-streaked brown hair and a pair of spectacles balanced on her nose. Though Serena couldn’t recall their name, the deeper lines of age creasing her face compared to her colleagues marked her as the oldest teacher currently serving at L’Académie.

Jade greeted them with a respectful nod. “_Bonjour_, Madame Augustine. Have you been doing well since we were here last?”

“_Bonjour_, Madame Jade,” Augustine greeted back with a smile. “And yes, I ‘ave been. Ze days before a test is one of ze rare times when all of L’Académie’s students adhere closely to ze proper conduct, giving us a welcome respite.” She glanced between Serena and Veronica. “And are zese…?”

“Ah, have you not met them yet?” Jade gestured between the sisters. “This is Veronica and Serena, another of our companions traveling with Eleven and Rab and I.”

“Ah, more _compagnons_ of ze Académie’s ‘onorary inductee!” Augustine exclaimed. “I ‘ad vague memories of another pair of _jumelles_ in one of young Wallope’s classes days ago and was wondering if ze were not prospective students. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I hope you two have found your stays here enjoyable?”

“Hello, madame,” Serena greeted. “And we ever so have—the meals Miss Croque has crafted each time my companions and I have resided here have been an absolute delight! I think I’d enjoy enrolling in this school for the opportunity to experience those on a regular schedule alone.”

Madame Augustine made a cheery nod. “Zat is true, indeed. I ‘ave indulged en Croque’s meals for nearly two decades now, long enough for zem to dissolve into routine, yet ze good cook will always find a new way to surprise you eventually.” Turning to Veronica, she asked. “And ‘ow about you, little one?”

Serena couldn’t help a twinge of anxiety at the madame’s invocation of Veronica’s soft spot, but surprisingly, her sister reacted with visible discomfort. “Ehhhh…it’s alright,” Veronica said, waving a dismissive hand.

From behind them came a disappointed “Peh!” followed by a lips’ smack, but Madame Augustine responded with a light chuckle. “Oh, you don’t need to worry, _mon cher_—I ‘ave seen plenty a _jeune fille_ pass through zese ‘allowed ‘alls, and some of zem find that life at ze Académie is not suitable for them. Some of zem do find themselves better off, but other times one cannot be so sure…” The cheerfulness in her gaze dimmed at this, and Augustine fell into a contemplative silence.

“Is there something you wanted to ask, Madame Augustine?” Jade asked.

“Hm…? Ah, yes!” Madame Augustine perked up again. “If I am not mistaken, your last excursion with ze honorary student took you to ze Crystal Kingdom of Sniflheim, non?” At Jade’s nod she continued, “I ‘ave heard plenty of _vignettes_ around him, chief among them that ‘e is quite ze dilligent taskmaster! Numerous of ze curiosities zat have surrounded ze Académie for years, solved in only two days! It is uncanny!” She glanced around the foyer. “I do not see ‘im ‘ere wiz you, but do you think ‘e would be willing to take on another task from me?”

“We’ll be returning there to travel to our next destination before long, so I’m sure I can convince him to take care of this for you, madame.”

_“Merci beaucoup!”_ Augustine gratefully said. “You will need zis…” The Académie teacher took her hands from behind her back and proffered to Jade a worn scroll of paper wrapped by a noticeably newer red ribbon with the starry seal of a mini medal.

“What’s this?” Jade asked, accepting the scroll.

Madame de Beauvoir, vice-principal of L’Académie and childhood friend of Jade’s mother, stepped up behind the warrior princess to look over her shoulder. “Zis is a _diplôme_ de L’Académie…one zat I ‘ave not signed nor remembered seeing before.”

“Indeed, Madame de Beauvoir—zat _diplôme_ was created long before you first enrolled as _l’étudiante_,” Augustine explained, her expression growing wistful. “Of all ze students zat have enrolled here, zere was one girl en particulier 'oo caused me more 'eadaches zan all of ze others put together…an incredibly naughty _jeune fille_ 'oo was always getting 'erself into mischief!” She shook her head, but Serena thought she could see a hint of a smile in Augustine’s expression. “But no matter 'ow much trouble she caused, you could not 'elp but smile at 'er antics! She was ze breath of fresh air zat messes up your 'air!

“But zen…one cold and frosty winter morning, just a few days before 'er graduation, she ran away. She sent a letter a few days later saying she would not be coming back—_et voilà_, she never did.” Augustine sighed, turning to face the foyer and the headmaster’s cottage. “Zat was thirty years ago…shortly before Monsieur Médaillé took over as ze new ‘eadmaster. It feels as if a lifetime has passed since then, and my old bones, zey are beginning to creak. I feel as if it will soon be my time to bid zis place goodbye. But before I go, I want 'er to 'ave 'er _diplôme_—ze certificate I would 'ave given 'er on 'er graduation day. Only when zat is done can I retire sans regrets.”

Madame Augustine turned back to them and nodded at the diploma. “Ze girl’s name is Liliane, and ze postmark on ‘er letter shows zat it was sent from ze Crystal Kingdom. If you could find ‘er, and deliver ze _diplôme_ to ‘er, I would be so very grateful.”

Jade nodded her acknowledgement. “Don’t worry, Madame Augustine. I’ll be sure Eleven gets this diploma to Liliane as soon as we’ve returned to Sniflheim.”

_“Merveilleuse!_ Zat will lift a ‘eavy burden from my shoulders,” Augustine chimed. She glanced between Serena and Veronica once more. “Now zen, I know Madame Jade may ‘ave never been a student of L’Académie, but surely she ‘as imparted ze importance of _grâce et sophistication_ to you _jeune filles_, non?”

“Make way, make way, make _way_, ya buggers!” Before either of them could answer, Serena started as L'Académie’s pleasant ambience was again interrupted once again by another raucous clamor. The group of ladies all turned from where they stood at the edge of the entrance hall towards the staircase corridor, just in time to see a broom-holding student flounder away as a frantic gaggle of girls rushed around the corner in their direction.

Zazie ran at the head of her gang, protectively hugging a clear glass ball to her chest with a deviously gleeful look—but when her gaze fell on Serena and the teachers, mortification marred her face before shifting to panic. “Oh, _bloody_ hell—we’re in for it now, girls!”she yelled, speeding up as she cut through the pillars lining the garden towards the entrance. The rest of her friends quickly followed behind—Mindy clutching three color-coded decks of cards in her hands, Lynette attempting to catch what cards slipped from the former’s hands as she ran, Helen keeping a worried Conchella steady atop her tangle of hair with both hands—with Livvie nor Cléo anywhere to be found.

“Oh, it’s you girls!” Helen grinned at Serena and her companions as she passed by. “Say hi to all the hot boys in your gang for me!”

“Helen!” Lynette said, sounding rather hurt.

“What?” Helen responded as they bolted out the entrance.

Before any of the teachers could respond, another pair of girls emerged from the stairs—Goolia and the curly-haired Bernadette, both Médamoiselles wearing determined expressions as they ran at the same hurried pace, staring straight ahead as they sped out the entrance.

“Ooooogh! Whoever left that door unlocked for the rabble to get up to more mischief has to be the most detestable person in the world!” Behind the Médamoiselles were two unaffiliated students, Candida and the younger girl with a hat and glasses, the latter’s face scrunched with a vindicative fury as she retrieved the dropped cards.

“Mind your language, Destine,” Candida scolded as she picked up a yellow card from the floor. The chef-de-classe glanced up in the direction of the next, but when she spotted the group of ladies standing further ahead her eyes alighted with relief. “Oh, thank _La Collectrice_—madames!” she sighed, scampering towards them.

Madame de Beauvoir moved to the front of the group to meet the chef-de-classe. “Candida, _mon cher_, what is ze problem?”

Candida jabbed a finger at the entrance. “Another of Zazie’s antics, madame—Destine’s crystal ball was taken and replaced with a painted sportsball from the storeroom! When she took me to investigate, one of Zazie’s cohorts went to steal away her cards as well, but they were caught in the act—and now they are threatening to toss them all down the stream!”

Despite the chef-de-classe’s frantic tone, Madame de Beauvoir simply released a tired sigh. “First Wallope’s whip, and now zis…if only zat child could _calmez-vous_ for a few days…” Shaking her head, the vice-principal headed for the entrance with her students following close behind, Destine mumbling curses for a “stupid snooping honorary student” as they went.

Serena and her companions watched them go, but before any of them could react there was another “Peh!” as Madame Labouche slithered forward. “I cannot believe zis…” the kisser grumbled, “all of zese girls, traipsing through ze ‘allways past me as if ze were on a racetrack! And now even ze Médamoiselles…does every student wish to fall to ze levels of _le riffraff commun!?”_

“I think even the most devoted disciple of elegance would have moments where they lapse, Madame Labouche,” Jade pointed out.

Madame Labouche turned to glare at the warrior princess. “Oh? And do you think you can call yourself une disciple of grace when you _pratiquer le métier_ of ruffians?” At Jade’s confused look, Labouche went on, “Do not act as if you are _ignorante_. You may ‘ave passed on your _commerce barbare_ to some of our girls in ze name of ‘protecting themselves,’ but it took little time for some of zem to _tomber en disgrâce!_ Only two days ago did we find Caroline threatening to strike another student if she did not move faster in _le réfectoire_, just like any other common beast!”

“Oh gosh.” Jade’s gaze grew troubled as she glanced at the entrance. “Well, if those girls are already stepping out of line, I suppose I should be out there taking responsibility, shouldn’t I?” Jade handed the diploma to Serena before heading outside towards the commotion, and Madame Labouche slithered in her waked with disappointed lip-smacking.

Serena and Veronica silently watched them head outside, and with them gone the Académie interior returned to it’s normal ambience. “Wow,” Veronica breathed, incredulously staring after the commotion. “For a school that’s supposed to be as prim and proper as it looks, it sure can get _pretty_ dysfunctional. I do not want to be enrolled here anytime soon, thank you very much.”

“I’m sure every school has its periods of dysfunction,” Serena said, giggling at her next thought. “But you know, I think you and Zazie might get along quite well if you were here.”

“Oh, _absolutely_ not,” Veronica snapped, waving a hand. “That girl’s got spirit, and she certainly seems to know not to take any ridiculous nonsense from people—but Yggdrasil’s boughs, talk about unhinged.”

A sigh from Madame Augustine drew their attention. “Spirited…just like Liliane…but with little of ze affability.” The madame stared out the open door at the commotion happening at the center of the schoolyard, but the distance in her eyes seemed to reach the gates of the school and head out even further. “Yet even still…though my colleagues do not like her devious antics, I find myself in _d'accord_ with some of ‘er sentiments more and more. Sometimes I wonder if L’Académie would be better served if we listened to all of its students, even ze ones with _perspectives désagréables_ such as ‘ers…”

A chill draft blew in from the entrance, and Madame Augustine suddenly fell into a bout of coughing. When she was finished after a couple seconds, she looked back at Serena and Veronica with a smile. _“Excusez-moi_. Now, since ze commotion outside seems to ‘ave the required attention from my colleagues, I must be returning to my duties. Be well, _mes chers_.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> y'know, if it weren't for this series' constant joking and ogling over feminine bodies (or even outright equating them as easily corruptible, which [probably](https://dragon-quest.org/wiki/Witch_\(Dragon_Quest_VIII\)) [isn't](https://dragon-quest.org/wiki/Evil_Jessica) [a](https://dragonquest.fandom.com/wiki/Krystalinda) [coincidence](https://dragonquest.fandom.com/wiki/Jade#Jinxed_Jade_2) at this point and just as gross), I'm pretty sure the concept of sex would just not exist in Dragon Quest otherwise.
> 
> The diploma quest actually isn't available until you revisit L’Académie in Act II, but...


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